Twenty-two-year-old Judith Wilson from Ballinamallard and Nicola Corrigan from Enniskillen took centre stage on Monday night to contest the Miss Northern Ireland title.

The final of this year's Junction One Miss Northern Ireland competition took place at the Europa Hotel, Belfast.

Judith and Nicola were just two of the 26 beauties who took part in the prestigious event, with Nicola being voted into the top seven by the judges. Trillick girl Fiona Keenan made up the local contingent.

The awards ceremony was attended by the reigning Miss World Tat'ana Kucharova from the Czech Republic, Blue Peter presenter and former Miss Northern Ireland, Zoe Salmon, and last year's winner Catherine Milligan.

Melissa Patton from Belfast went on to take the title and was crowned this year's Miss Northern Ireland.

She will now go on to represent Northern Ireland in the 2007 Miss World contest which is due to be held in December in the People's Republic of China.

The Miss Northern Ireland competition, organised by Alison Campbell, celebrated its 21st birthday this year and received hundreds of entries during its 13 heats held province wide.

Prizes for the title holder and all finalists include Junction One gift vouchers, a range of fashion and beauty products and a year's modelling contract with the complete prize package worth almost £40,000.

Miss Northern Ireland 2007 also won a brand new Honda car for the duration of her reign and an all expenses paid, month long trip to China for the Miss World event.