Scarborough's Jasmine Howard, 20, joins the race for Miss North Yorkshire

Jasmine Howard, 20, has been shortlisted in the final stage of the county-wide modelling contest and will join fellow Scarborough finalists Erica Oldroyd, 20, and Rebecca Wainwright, 23, in the race for the title.

Her ambition is to work within fashion journalism.

The decision to enter the contest comes from her desire to “do something new” and meet new people.

She said: “I’ve done some photoshoots before for friends who are aspiring photographers and I’ve helped friends out with things like fashion shows. I saw the post on Facebook and thought it’d be a fun thing to do so I wanted to give it a go.

“It’s just another experience and I wanted to see what it’s like.”

So far, Jasmine says she’s enjoyed the process, especially meeting the other girls.

“It’s been quite fun, the girls are all really friendly, we’ve become quite close. No-one’s nastily competitive, we sort of all support each other,” she added.

Although this is the first time taking part in an official modelling contest, Jasmine says she’s enjoyed it so much that she’d consider entering similar competitions again in the future.

Being shortlisted in the finals was “a bit of a shock” but she’s now looking forward to the night.

“I’m really excited, [winning] will be nice but at the end of the day it’s about the whole experience.”

Ahead of the event, Jasmine is planning to host a clothes swap at university to raise money for Zoe’s Place, the contest’s chosen charity, which supports children and babies with life limiting or life-threatening conditions.

The finals of Miss North Yorkshire 2020 will be held on April 17 at The Swan Hotel, Teesside.