Drama student Emma Noakes has made herself a name to watch out for after winning a prestigious acting award.

The 20-year-old rising star is the first Oxford School of Drama student to win the BBC Carleton Hobbs Bursary Award.

The annual award gives winners the chance to work with some of the country's top actors in plays, series, dramatisations and readings for BBC Radio Three, Radio Four and the World Service.

Miss Hobbs was among four winners picked from more than 80 students at accredited drama schools across the UK.

She will start her five-month contract in July, after completing her third year at the drama school, based at Sansomes Farm Studios, near Woodstock.

She said: "Winning the award has given me such an amazing opportunity. I'll have five months working with the hugely respected BBC Radio Drama Company and as a young actor, it will be a chance for me to continue my learning.

"Getting your first job after drama school is really important for an actor and I have been fortunate enough to get mine before I have even graduated. I feel very lucky indeed.

"I have loved my time at The Oxford School of Drama. It is a very special, and I feel unique, place. I may be biased but I believe that the training and individuality of Oxford makes it one of the best drama schools in the country. "

Last year, another student at the school, Annabel Scholey, was a runner-up and went on to star opposite Tom Conti in a national tour of The Real Thing.

Previous winners include Richard Griffiths (Withnail and I), Stephen Tompkinson (Drop The Dead Donkey, Brassed Off), Timothy Bentinck (The Archers), Julian Rhind-Tutt (Green Wing), and Emma Fielding (Waking the Dead).