More than 40 hopefuls posed for the camera and pondered judges' questions as the search for Miss Oxford Mail 2008 hotted up yesterday.

Entrants from across the county strutted their stuff at the Oxford Mail's offices as organisers undertook the task of whittling down the field to just 20 contenders.

Each woman was professionally photographed before being interviewed by our panel of judges.

Olivia Absolom, from Horspath, had a special reason for entering the competition.

The 20-year-old said: "My dad always nagged me to enter and he died a year ago so I am doing it in his memory.

"I was really nervous coming here. I was actually more nervous than any other job interview I have been to.

"I have never done anything like this before but I have always wanted to be a model."

Kimberley Ross, 21, from Cowley, had previously entered the Derry Rose competition in her native Northern Ireland.

She said: "I love pageants and meeting new people, especially the other girls. Although I have done this before it always make you nervous.

"My ambition is to be a clinical psychologist, rather than a model. I want to show people that girls that have got brains can be pretty too."

Seventeen-year-old Pascale Watkins, from Kidlington, said she had loved being a part of Miss Oxford Mail after a recommendation from friends.

She said: "My friends came up to me in school one day and said I should enter, so I decided to give it a go.

"I was so nervous I was shaking during the photoshoot, but it has been great so far. I would love to win a modelling contract."

Fellow contestant Charlotte Grant-Harris, 22, also from Kidlington, said: "I entered because I think any girl in Oxford should be able to enter.

"It has gone really well so far although I was a bit nervous to begin with. I will just take every step as it comes."

Demi Reid, 16, from Wallingford, said: "I think it is a great opportunity for a girl to represent Oxford and hopefully become Miss England."

Judge Angie Beasley, a director of Miss England, said: "It has been a very busy day and the standard has been very high. It is going to be very difficult choosing just 20.

"The girls need to show a bubbly personality and be confident as well as beautiful - they need to have the complete package.

"A third of the marks are for beauty and the rest go on personality. We are not a modelling competition, we are a beauty contest, and we are looking for role models for other women."