Huddersfield teenager Gemma Davy will be heading for London this weekend to find out if she’s got what it takes to be a supermodel. She was chosen from among 4,200 entrants for the finals of the annual Top Model UK competition. Hilarie Stelfox reports

GEMMA DAVY is a leggy 5ft 10ins tall and has a naturally slender size 6/8 frame.

She looks like a model – and has every intention of being one.

Since the age of 14, when she entered her first beauty pageant, she’s had her heart set on it.

Now 18, the former Huddersfield New College student, who left full time education last year, is pinning her hopes on reaching the top in the Top Model UK competition in London this weekend.

In fact, she has yet to look for a job because she is so focused on a career in modelling.

Gemma, from Kirkburton, has already beaten thousands of other hopefuls to a place in the final and is just one of just 20 girls who will take to the catwalk in the high fashion ‘editorial’ category, which aims to find the next generation of runway and photographic models.

“I applied for Top Model online and sent a few pictures in,” she explained. “They emailed back to ask me to go down for an audition in the ‘editorial’ category.

“I went to London in October and they told me that I was through to the final.”

Since that time Gemma has made three further trips to the capital – one to the competition’s official launch and VIP party, a second to rehearse and another to model on the runway for a designer at London Fashion Week.

So far Gemma has worked unpaid, but if she wins the Top Model UK title she will scoop a modelling contract and a raft of luxurious prizes, including a five-day photoshoot in Malta, free hairstyling for a year and an appearance on the Top Model UK television channel.

Even those who don’t win have the chance of a modelling contract.

Last year, several finalists were approached by modelling agencies and have gone on to work as models.