HAIR and beauty students are celebrating after winning awards at a regional competition.

Wigan and Leigh College scooped the overall team prize in the Greater Manchester Colleges Group (GMCG) skills competition.

Kinga Graczyk-Lisauskas won the Level 3 beauty challenge and former Fred Longworth High School pupil, Lauren Shuttleworth, finished first in the Level 1 nail art competition.

There were also second place finishes for Level 2 hair (Gabriella Nsonga), Level 3 hair (Jennifer Chadwick), Level 3 hair and media makeup (Rebecca Ruthven) and Level 3 nails (Abigail Michaelides).

Hosted at Tameside College, the contest tested college students' skills and abilities in hairdressing, media makeup, nail art and beauty.

Head of hair and beauty at Wigan and Leigh College, Lisa Kniveton, said: “What an amazing achievement from all our students which contributed to a winning team performance.

"Wigan and Leigh College has invested in state-of-the-art Image Centre salons, which are designated Wella Centres of Excellence that provide a unique platform for budding hair and beauty learners to hone their skills on real clients.

“Our Image Centre salons offer the most up to date facilities and equipment which allow our learners to thrive and develop their skills to match industry standards and we can see that reflected in how well they’ve done."

Students also train with the latest products from industry including Elemis, NSI, Illamasqua, Crown, Sleek, Mehron, Airbase, Crazy Angel.

GMCG is a partnership consisting of nine further education colleges covering Greater Manchester.