Highland Beauty queens dazzle at contest
Two Highland beauties lit up the stage at a pageant attracting entries from across the UK.
Tegan Smith (18) from Smithton, and Hannah Webster (18) from Nairn, were invited to appear at a national competition for beauty contest winners.
Both were winners in the regional heats of the Miss Teen Galaxy UK competition, where charity and volunteering work is part of the judging criteria.
Hannah was placed second overall in the competition, held in Chorley, while Tegan was placed in the top 10 of more than three dozen youngsters who were regional winners from across the country.
Tegan, who is a shop supervisor, said: “I won the Miss Teen Inverness Galaxy competition and got through to the national competition.
“I was terrified about taking part. I really didn’t want to go on the stage and I was in tears at the thought of it.
“But as soon as I was up there, I actually quite enjoyed it, and when I came off stage I would definitely have got straight back up onto it.
“It really pushed me out of my comfort zone, but it was a good thing.
“I am a home bird.
“I even chose not to take up a university place at Napier because I didn’t want to leave my mum, so I am now studying beauty at university here.”
Hannah, who is an operations worker at Cawdor Castle, said that she has become good friends with Tegan.
“I didn’t know Tegan before the competitions, but as soon as I saw we were both taking part, I got in touch with her to see if we could do things together,” she said.
Hannah was named Miss Teen Highland in a competition earlier in the year.
She continued: “It has been lovely to get to know Tegan. I was very nervous about the interview part of the competition, and I thought I had made a bit of a mess of it. One of the judges was Amy Hart from Love Island and I just felt that put a lot of pressure on me. When I found out that I had gained the highest points in this area I was amazed, and delighted.
“Amy told me afterwards that I interviewed really well, and it was more like a chat than an interview.”
