Young faces seek to show their wow factor
Thursday, 24th April 2008

HIP and handsome wannabe models battled it out to become finalists in the  Face  of  Gloucestershire .

The youngsters strutted their stuff in the Beechwood Shopping Centre on Thursday night in the semi-finals of the competition.

Forty hopefuls, whittled down from 240 by text vote, were paraded in front of cheering friends and family in the Cheltenham centre before trying to wow the judges.

Eight men and eight women will go through to the next round.

The top prize is a year’s modelling contract at London-based agency Rah Productions, £500 shopping vouchers, £500 jewellery vouchers and the title of the  face  of  Gloucestershire  Media for a year.

Paul Swaby, model and joint-founder of Rah, was one of the four judges.

“First and foremost it’s about presence, about having that wow factor,” he said.

“I think we’ve definitely seen that tonight.”

Fellow judge Rachel Brown, creative director at main sponsor Blushes Hair Salon, added: “They were nervous, but you can see straight away if they’ve got that special thing, and some definitely had.”