Photographic Stylist of the Year winners showcase industry’s eye-catching talent

The winners of this year’s NHBF Photographic Stylist of the Year competition have been announced.

The prestigious photographic competition is renowned as one of the highlights of the NHBF calendar, and encourages stylists to showcase their skills by combining cutting-edge styling with head-turning visual imagery.

This year’s competition saw more than 200 entries being received across the three categories of Ladies, Men’s and Afro-Caribbean, and the standard was, once again, breath-takingly high, the judges concluded.

The winners were announced at the NHBF’s Britain’s Best Competition in Warwickshire on Sunday 13 November.

NHBF president Agnes Leonard said: “My congratulations go out to all this year’s winners. The Photographic Stylist of the Year competition showcases the some of the most vibrant, exciting talent within our industry, and this year has been no exception.

“The standard of entries was high, and the judges found choosing this year’s winners to be extremely challenging. Our finalists really pushed themselves.

Winning a competition like Photographic Stylist of the Year can be a real boost to a stylist’s reputation and career, as well as great publicity for their salon. Well done to all our winners and all our finalists – you can be intensely proud of what you have achieved.”

This year’s winners were:
• Amy Johnson, of Headromance, Portsmouth – Ladies Fashion Look (students and trainees)

• Ross Charles, of Ross Charles Salon, York – Ladies Fashion Look

• Naomi Brooks, of The Hair Sanctuary, Manchester – Female Afro-Caribbean Fashion Look

• Nathan Pinder, of Ross Charles Salon, York – Male Afro-Caribbean Fashion Look

• Craig Simpson, of Copperfields Hair & Beauty, Perth – Men’s Fashion Look

• David Baker, of The Vault Hair and Spa, Esher – Ladies Fashion Collection

This year’s awards were sponsored by TrichoCare Education, and the prizes were awarded by Tetenal, Onzen and MHD Pro.

The judging panel included NHBF president Agnes Leonard, immediate past president Paul Curry, past president Mark Coray and current vice-president Ian Egerton. The judges for the female categories were photographer and hairdresser Desmond Murray, renowned session stylist Matthew Curtis, deputy editor of Creative Head Beth Davies and editor of Professional Hairdresser Nicola Shannon. The judges for the male categories were editor of Modern Barber Rachel Gould and renowned barber MK.