We met up with one of the candidates for next year’s Miss England 2018

Beauty pageants have received some bad press in recent years, what with Donald Trump's involvement in them and criticism that they're an outdated practice.

However, we met up with Jenna Hobbs, who is currently in the semi-final for the Miss England 2018 competition. She balances life as a third year architecture student in Sheffield with her beauty pageants, as well as volunteering at Sheffield's alpaca farm.

Jenna doesn't strike you as the stereotypical beauty pageant type. She's down to earth and has a good northern sense of humour. She maintains that beauty pageants aren't what they're made up to be in the press, and she's currently battling against another 20 contestants in the quarter finals of the Miss England 2018 competition.

So, what is the process like to be in the Miss England competition?

Well, I had to send over a picture of myself and submit my details, and then I got invited to an audition at the Leicester headquarters. Here, I had to do a catwalk, have a picture taken and also do a video about myself, and then I got put through into the quarter final where there's a public vote.

Beauty pageants get quite a bad rap, but what would you have to say to people who criticise them and consider them sexist?

The Miss England competition has come such a long way. It's more modern these days, and it isn't just about girls parading around in swimsuits. They don't even do that anymore! It's more about being a role model. You've got to be charitable, you've got to be athletic, you've got to be a person who can work with anyone. The girls in the competition come from all different backgrounds.

Jenna is through to the quarter final

Even though beauty pageants have changed a lot, do you think that they still portray an unrealistic ideal for young girls?

Not every girl in the competition is five foot nine inches and wears a size six. There's a full range of different body types, and people from different cultures, and it's not just your typical supermodel girl who takes part in them.

At the auditions, all the girls there are just normal people you'd see anywhere and are just doing it for a bit of fun and to see what opportunities it brings.

There's also a stereotype that girls who enter beauty pageants are all a bunch of air heads, but yet you're a third year architecture student! What would you say to people who still think in that way?

So many girls in the competition who I've spoken to are really clever. The current Miss England is a radiologist and is about to start her Masters here in Sheffield. There are other girls who are lawyers and medics. You've got to be the whole package really. We're not just a bunch of airheads!

Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality

Would you say there's a lot of pressure being part of a pageant?

I think the more you put into it, the more you're going to get out of it really. Obviously, if you do win, I think it's a big responsibility, but I've entered into it knowing exactly what it is and I'm willing to take on all the challenges it brings.

And when is the Miss England competition?

Voting for this heat finishes on the 16th October, and then the semi-finals and the final are next summer.

You can vote for Jenna by texting MISS SEMI07 to 63333. Texts cost 50p and lines close on 16th October 2017 at midday.