Catwalk stars to shine at the Great Yorkshire Show

The finalists of a fun competition to find the faces of this year’s Great Yorkshire Show have been selected – now the aspiring models are preparing to step on to the catwalk on the first day of England’s premier agricultural show.

Earlier this year, the Yorkshire Agricultural Society, organisers of the event, launched a contest to find would-be catwalk models who live or work in the countryside. This year the show runs from Tuesday 12 to Thursday 14 July 2011 and is expected to attract around 130,000 visitors over the three days.

The competition attracted dozens of entries from young men and women from across the country - all hoping to strut their stuff on the runway in the popular Skipton Building Society Fashion Pavilion.

A team of high-profile judges, including national fashionistas, spent an action packed morning interviewing all the competitors before announcing the 11 finalists. They will be joining the professional models on the catwalk at 230pm on the opening day of the Show, which takes place at the 250-acre showground on the edge of Harrogate.

After making their catwalk debut in front of an audience of hundreds, the judges will then have the difficult task of choosing the male and female 2011 Country Catwalk Stars. The female contestants will be wearing garments by Hobbs, the renowned womenswear store and the men, by Brook Taverner of Keighley.

As well as sharing Skipton Building Society’s prize money of £500, the two winners will be offered an introduction to modelling with West Yorkshire’s Morton Gledhill Fashion Team, organisers of the fashion shows, as well as a case of Black Sheep beer and £100 worth of skincare products.

Stacey Stothard, Senior Corporate Communications Officer for Skipton Building Society, sponsors of the popular Fashion Pavilion, said choosing the finalists had been a very difficult task.

"We have been delighted that the competition attracted such a high standard of entrants from young people from across the country. We had some fantastic candidates which presented the judges with a very difficult task, but those we have chosen reflect the ethos of the competition – young people living and working in the countryside," she said.

Also on the catwalk will be a sneak preview of the Hobbs Autumn/Winter collection, millinery specially designed for the event by North Yorkshire’s Suzanne Gill, collections from Hardy at The Left Bank Huddersfield, Harvey’s of Halifax, Brook Taverner of Keighley and also from final year fashion students in Doncaster and Northallerton.

Elsewhere attractions around the show include:

o Lorenzo’s Equestrian Display in the Main Ring each day

o Top class show jumping including the new Mini Major competition

o Food Hall with the region’s best food & drink

o The Yorkshire Volunteers Band

o Cookery theatre with Rosemary Shrager

o New equine classes including Horse of the Year Show qualifiers

o International sheep shearing competitions & the English National Championships

o Demonstrations of country skills – dry stone walling, fly fishing, gundog training

o Hundreds of stands for plenty of shopping!

…. and more than 5,000 of Britain’s best cattle, sheep and pigs competing for the coveted championship awards. Parking at the show is free and extensive.