Emily hart is young hairdresser of the year 2009

Emily Hart from Errol Douglas was named the Young Hairdresser of the Year, presented by HJi and supported by Your Hair, in front of a full-house audience in the Fashion Theatre at the Clothes Show Live.

Earlier, 19 finalists, all under the age of 30 with between three and five years' experience as stylists, had competed in the live final on the Hair and Beauty stage.

Each had already impressed judges with a photographic entry and had 45 minutes to re-create that image with the added pressure of being watched by the buzzing crowd and being quizzed about their work by the judges - Phil Smith, Tim Scott-Wright, Rob Eaton, Sharon Peake and the editors of HJi and Your Hair.

All the hairdressers demonstrated an incredibly high standard of work and the judges' job was made even tougher due to the  mixture of on-trend crops that were cut live on the stage and up-dos that were dressed on stage.

However, they were narrowed down to six grand finalists - Andrew Udall, TONI&GUY; Emily Hart, Errol Douglas; Christopher Appleton, Georges Hairdressing; Jonathan Andrew, Cox McMillan Hair & Beauty; Leah Walton, The Colour Room and Matthew Roskell, Francesco Group Weeping Cross.

The six then presented their models in the Fashion Theatre where Christopher Appleton was named runner-up for his cute 1940s-inspired bob while Emily's vibrant orange asymmetric crop with undercut was chosen as the winner.

Emily follows in the footsteps of Kate Hubbard from Royston Blythe and Megan Zarrabi of Hob Salons and wins a trophy, a cheque for £1,000, cover shoots for HJ and Your Hair and of course the kudos of being named the most talented young hairdresser in the country.