Kate hubbard is young hairdresser of the year

Kate Hubbard from Royston Blythe in Wolverhampton was named winner of the inaugural Clothes Show Young Hairdresser of the Year, presented by HJi, competition. Kate, 23, beat 18 other finalists to clinch the prize, which includes £1,000 cash, a stunning trophy and a photo shoot with Anthony Mascolo at the Bed Head Studio in London, which will appear on the front cover of HJ and co-sponsor Your Hair. The finalists, all under the age of 30 with between three and five years' experience, had to recreate their photographic entry in front of a packed audience of hairdressers and consumers on the Hair and Beauty Stage at the Clothes Show Live.Judges Lisa Shepherd, Phil Smith, Sean Dawson, HJ's Jayne Lewis-Orr and Alison Worthington from Your Hair then selected the six grand finalists to take part in a catwalk presentation in the Fashion Theatre. Lisa Shepherd said: "This will make a massive difference to the winner's career. It will catapult them so fastly forward that it will be like achieving 10 years work in an instant."The Grand Finalists

Stefano Adani,hob	Hayley Dexter, Unique
Amy Gregory, Bonomini	Kate Hubbard, Royston Blythe
Leonardo Rizzo, Sanrizz	Neil Smith,Barrie Stephen.

Jayne Lewis-Orr, who presented the event along with Clothes Show presenter Brendan Courtney, added: "We had over 250 entrants and the quality has been superb. The standard among all the finalists was massively high and some of the work is exceptional."An ecstatic Kate, who is also a member of the F.A.M.E Team 2008, could not contain her excitement. She said: "I'm completely over the moon. It means so much to me that I cried when they announced my name! "It tops off a brilliant year and I have to say a huge thank you to Royson and Nick who have supported me loads and really pushed me to achieve this."If you would like to follow in Kate's footsteps, keep logging on to HJi for how to enter next year's competition. More pictures from the Young Hairdresser of the Year competition>>