A 13-YEAR-OLD from Chiswick says a modelling competition has brought her out of shell and given her more confidence.

Olivia Gibbs-Fairley, of St Mary's Grove, is through to the semi finals of the 13-15 years branch of a national competition called Miss Teen Queen UK.

She found out about Teen Princess UK when she and her mother went to the Britain's Next Top Model live show in September and saw a stall promoting the competition.

The Brentford School for Girls pupil said: "I have always been very shy. I have always dreamed of being a model but I often dismissed it because I believed it wasn't very practical. I'd never heard of the competition before but I read the leaflet and filled in a form, I didn't really think I would get anywhere."

A few weeks ago Olivia got a letter saying she beat 9,500 thousand girls who entered to make it through to the quarter finals. She was then invited to the NW5 studios in North London to have a photo shoot, last week she was delighted to discover that she made it through to the semi-finals.

Olivia said: "My parents said they were really surprised by how I did and that I came out of my shell. Winning this competition would mean so much to me, even if it doesn't work out I would still like to pursue modelling."

She is now up against 49 girls in a public voting round in a bid to get through the finals next August, and needs friends and family members to get on-line and cast their vote.

Olivia says she would like to join a local drama school next year to start working on her skills as an actress, she also plans to go to university after taking a gap year where she hopes to improve her acting skills.

To find out more or vote for Olivia go to www.missteenqueen.com