A TEENAGER has won a spot in the regional finals of a national singing competition.

Stanmore College performing arts’ student Savannah Gevell was encouraged to enter TeenStar 2013 by her family and caught the attention of the judges at her first audition at The Beck Theatre, Hayes, last month.

Savannah, 18, of Rickmansworth Road, Pinner, was selected for the area final on Saturday, March 16, where she sang Demi Lavato’s Skyscraper, and judges put her through to the next round, the regional final, on Saturday, May 18.

The former pupil of Eastcote’s Haydon School said: “I want to go all the way and hope to do so.

“My mum helps me to choose a song that is suitable. It’s when she gets goosebumps that I know I’m going in a positive direction, so I have to thank her for encouraging me to enter and then being there every step of the way.”

Savannah is in her final year at college and plans to audition for a number of top London drama schools, as she aspires to be a West End performer.

Meanwhile, Sarah Benbelaid, 14, of Moorhouse Road, Kenton, performed The Wizard And I, from West End hit Wicked, at the contest on Saturday. The Park High School pupil, who attends Flash Musicals Youth Theatre, in Edgware, and Sue Nieto Theatre School, in Mill Hill, lost out to others because the competition was so stiff.

Her mother, Amanda Benbelaid, said: “The other contestants were really lovely and really good so Sarah didn’t mind too much she didn’t get through, but she won the Exposure Award for generating the best publicity and won a day in a recording studio.”

TeenStar is a new, national singing competition for teenage singers, duos, vocal groups, rappers and solo artists. The overall winner will take home a £20,000 prize.

The judges included Radio 1 presenters and ex-members of the music industry.