A RECORD four beauty queens from across Hampshire will be competing in the Miss England final tonight, and they now want your votes.

The final takes place today and tomorrow at the Southport Theatre and Convention Centre.

All four ladies are competing in a round known as the ‘popularity award’, which is given to the contestant with the most text votes.

The Hampshire ladies in the final are Isobelle Cooper, 18, from Southampton, Larissa Hirst, 26, from New Milton, Nicola Ascroft, 22, from Basingstoke and Channon Kail, 20, from Portsmouth.

The winner is set to be announced by 10.30pm on Thursday.

The current Miss Southampton, Isobelle Cooper, has raised more than £35,000 for charity, and qualified after being selected by make-up sponsor Silk Powder as the new face of the brand. She will compete in the finals as Miss Silk Powder.

Isobelle said: “After getting through to the final I feel overwhelmed and excited. I'm privileged to have an amazing experience that changed me for the better by improving my anxiety.

 “If I was to win Miss England I will carry on with my fundraising. I want to be a positive role model for people and show them that they can succeed in their dreams. I would like to thank Miss England for turning me into a woman with self-belief and confidence.”

Larissa Hirst has previously won Miss Hampshire, Miss Southampton and Miss Dorset and she also won the national Brainy Beauty 2015 award at last year’s Miss England.

Larissa, a former Head Girl from Arnewood School, New Milton, who has been in the Miss England finals four times said: “This is my last chance to enter. Next year I will be too old. If I won I’d like to do more for charities connected with the NHS. We should value it a lot more.”

Nicola Ascroft is the current Miss Basingstoke but will be competing in the finals as Miss Charity due to her fundraising talents.

Nicola says if she won she would continue raising money for charity: “Over the past two years of my Miss England journey I have raised over £10,000 for the charity 'Beauty with a Purpose' - a very worthy charity that helps disadvantaged children worldwide.” 

When Miss Ascroft is not raising funds for charity she is a beauty therapist and hairdresser and likes to figure skate in her spare time.

The current Miss Hampshire is Channon Kail from Portsmouth. She aims to go to university to study social work. Channon says if she won Miss England: “I wouldn’t like to change. I’d like to use the title as a platform to help charitable causes in Hampshire. Maybe some of the less well known ones and highlight the things they do.”

Channon winning Miss Hampshire was all the more extraordinary as it was only the second beauty contest she had entered.

The Hampshire contestants know each other and are all good friends.

If one of our Hampshire ladies wins the Miss England title they can win £30,000 worth of prizes and a place at Miss World, which will be held in Washington DC in December.

  • To vote for Channon text MISS ENGLAND07 to 63333
  • To vote for Isobelle text MISS ENGLAND23 to 63333
  • To vote for Larissa text MISS ENGLAND28 to 63333
  • To vote for Nicola text MISS ENGLAND39 to 63333

Texts cost 50p plus standard network rate.

The Miss England competition is not run by The Southern Daily Echo.