A BRAINY teenager from North Harrow is vying to win a beauty contest in order to help children abroad.

Mala Mawkin, of Pinner Park Avenue, is one of 38 semi-finalists in the Teen Queen 2011 pageant but is gunning instead for the Teen Charity Queen title for whoever raises the most cash and awareness for the competition's chosen development charity The MAD Foundation.

The 16-year-old, who attends Shri Academy of Dance at Nower Hill High School in George V Avenue, Pinner, and is predicted 10 A* grades in her GCSEs at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls in Elstree, Hertfordshire, wants to become a doctor.

Mala volunteers for Haven Charity - standing for Helping A Village Emerge New - by helping to produce the organisation's newsletter and creating campaign videos among other things.

She said: "I raised £300 at my school. We held a cake sale, raffles, and since Haven was opening a children's home in India, I got my friends to donate old toys and clothes.

"I work really hard and want to get the Teen Charity Queen title so I can go to Africa."

She was spotted by Teen Queen staff at the Britain's Next Top Model Show at the end of October before the judges put her through to the semi final and arranged for her to attend a modelling photoshoot.

"I'd never done anything like that before. I was nervous because I really didn't know what to expect.

"I had to bring a few of my own outfits and pose for pictures. Taking photographs was a really fun experience."

But the image side of the contest does not interest her as much as the opportunity for more worthwhile work.

Mala's success in the pageant comes on top of a victory in another competition in which she produced a video about the future of space travel.

Her prize is to visit NASA - the American space agency - but in the meantime she met astronauts who encouraged her academically, and she intends to pass on this positivity.

"I want to show girls you can aspire to be a doctor or astronaut," she said. "And Teen Queen is a leg up to pursuing this."

Only the top two entrants with the most public votes by January 1 will reach the final, when they will begin raising money and pushing The MAD Foundation cause.

"My parents are very excited and so are my friends," said Mala. "It's fun because I'll be able to do what I really want - helping kids be what they want to be."

* Details on how to vote for Mala can be found at www.missteenqueenuk.com