Hair council student of the year: meet the winners

The Hair Council Student of the Year, supported by L'Oréal Professionnel and VTCT, is an annual event created to find the very best of student hairdressing talent. Open to every college, training centre and training salon in the UK, the competition sees learners submit a photo of a hair look that they're proud of; red carpet inspired for Level 2 learners and a cut and finish for those at Level 3. Judges Patrick Cameron, Andrew Barton and Jamie Stevens selected the finalists, who were then invited to London to recreate their look. Celebrity hairdressers Gary Hooker and Michael Young were then on hand to crown a final winner in each category. We caught up with the winners to find out more about the event.

Marlena Luczak from Stoke on Trent College won the Level 2 competition.

Why did you decide to enter Student of the Year? Dressing hair is my passion. I wanted to challenge myself and gain new experience in the live hairdressing field too. How has winning benefited your training? Winning the competition definitely boosted my confidence. I started to believe in my hairdressing skills more and understand how winning could improve my future career. Since wining, I have entered some other major hair competitions which I've also won: I came third in Britain's Best, organised by National Hairdressers Federation; first in the North West Regional Association of Hairdressers and Therapists Competition in January 2015; and second in the National Finals ATH Competition in Evening Hairstyle. How do you think your training is helping build a good foundation for your career? Challenging myself and winning multiple hair competitions awards has not just given me more confidence in my work, it has encouraged others to trust what I'm doing and create bespoke hairstyles that my clients love. I've built up my name, strengths and new skills. What’s your next career goal? To never stop learning, to always challenge myself and to keep trying new things. Currently, I am working as a bridal hairstylist but I'd like to go further in the near future with the skills I've learnt. My goal is to work on photoshoots for magazines.

Tara Walls from Rainbow Room International also won at Level 2.

Why did you decide to enter Student of the Year? It's a recognised and respected award, which also highlights the importance of being state registered. Before entering, I had come second in my then salon's in-house competition as Assistant of the Year and that really spurred me on too. How did it feel to win? It is the highlight of my career to date. I feel so strongly about compulsory state registration that I wanted to be part of that crusade. It was also a personal win for me, to prove to myself that I had what it takes. How has winning benefited your training? Winning has given me more confidence.  I was only 17 when I won, so I think it gave me a bit of kudos and I'm now taken more seriously as a young, innovative stylist. I was very fortunate to be trained by Scotland's largest training academy, Rainbow Room International, and then to be chosen as one of the stars of the BBC program, Do Or Dye, which documented my training. What’s your next career goal? I have now moved to an award-winning salon as a fully fledged stylist. I'm building up my column and learning new dimensions to my techniques. I have discovered that I enjoy cutting gent's hair and would like to travel down this avenue and see where it takes me. I am going to use my training  vouchers to enhance my skills in this market and would like to enter more competitions pertinent to my skills.