A TEENAGER with “personality and looks” has taken her first steps to achieving her ambition of becoming a model.

Shannon Knight, 14, has been crowned Miss Junior Teenage Somerset – and now she’s competing for the national title.

Shannon, from Galmington, Taunton, who attends The Castle School, will spend two days at Blackpool Pleasure Beach in August in a bid to impress the Great Britain judges.

She said: “There’s a big pageant in lots of dresses and they interview you to gauge your personality.

“I’ve been interested in this sort of thing since I was young and my family and friends are all chuffed for me.

“I’m proud to be representing Somerset.”

Shannon is delighted to support charities in her home county in her current role and particularly wants to raise money for Bristol Children’s Hospital, which has treated her cousins, Lauren and Shauna Croft, 11 and seven.

Her mother, Claire Knight, said: “Shannon has been onto me for years about doing something like this.

“Then her nan saw a competition and Shannon entered.

“She doesn’t want it all for herself – she really wants to help some charities.

“She has ambitions of being a model and lots of people say she has the personality and the looks.”