A journalist has won a beauty pageant which she was encouraged to enter after covering auditions for her newspaper.

Laura Gooderham, of the Grimsby Telegraph, has been crowned Miss Great Grimsby & District – which she entered after being spotted by a former winner while interviewing contestants.

Laura, 24, was initially put off by the idea when it was suggested by former winner Millie Margetts, but has now beat off competition from 11 other girls to claim the crown.

In the run-up to the final, held earlier this month, Laura wrote a number of features on her fellow competitors about their past battles and charitable efforts.

As a result of her victory, Laura will now represent Grimsby at the Miss England pageant, which is due to be held in Birmingham in July.

Laura has been a reporter at the Telegraph since September 2016, starting a week after graduating from the University Of Lincoln.

She said: “It feels an absolute honour to have been crowned the new Miss Great Grimsby and District 2017.

“I have some big shoes to fill following in Millie’s footsteps. I want to congratulate all of the other girls as they have been brilliant.

“It has been a fantastic experience raising money for two amazing charities and I cannot wait to continue raising money for other brilliant charities in this area and representing everything that is great about Grimsby.”