Miss Scarborough Shannon Jones to compete in national contest

Shannon Jones, 23, from Leeds, won the title of Miss Scarborough in May in a virtual final due to Covid restrictions.

On Sunday, September 12, she will take to the stage in Barnsley at the Supermodel England grand finals where two titles are up for grabs.

The first, ‘Top model of England’ will go on to a world international final and the second, ‘Supermodel England’ wins a package of prizes and opportunities throughout the reigning year.

Shannon, who works as a spa therapist, has been competing in pageants since she was 19 when she stumbled across them while looking to get into the modelling industry.

“I’ve always wanted to be a model but I kept doubting myself.

“My mum convinced me to give it a go,” Shannon said.

She won her first title, Miss Teen Leeds, in 2017 and also won a Miss Congeniality Award in another pageant two years later.

During lockdown in 2020 she entered an online Miss Regal World competition which gave her the chance to compete internationally.

She said: “It was a really nice experience and I made friends in Canada and Australia.”

For the final of Miss Scarborough, which took place online, Shannon decorated her back garden with a red carpet and balloons.

She said the experience was strange having not been able to meet any of the other finalists or do as much charitable work as she usually would prior to a pageant.

“I wasn’t expecting to win at all,” she explained, “I was watching the results online with my mum and we were so happy.”

As Miss Scarborough, Shannon is currently fundraising for Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice in Middlesborough.

She hopes to continue competing in future.

"I absolutely love pageants," Shannon added, "I've made a lot of progress since my first one and I've made friends all over the world.

"One day I would love to go into modelling and I'd love to do Miss Universe.

"But at the moment I'm happy with where I am."