ASPIRING actress Olivia-Jane Pearson won’t just be hitting headlines for her Miss Durham bid, she’ll be wearing them.

For the 17-year-old is a finalist in the Miss Durham beauty pageant and intends to wear a dress made from old copies of The Northern Echo in the competition’s eco-category.

She has already started work on the outfit, which she expects will take six-weeks to make, and will showcase it at the final at Sedgefield Racecourse on April 26.

Miss Pearson has already landed modelling and acting work and is confident that her Northern Echo dress will help her stand out from the crowd.

She said: “For the eco-category you have to wear something recycled and the only thing I could think of was paper.

“I don’t think anyone else would really think of that so I hope that the originality of the idea helps.”

Miss Pearson, of Carlton, Stockton, would like a career in acting and is travelling to the capital next week to take part in a course at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

She hopes that her training will help her in the Miss Durham final which will see women from across the region compete for the chance to represent County Durham in the grand final in June.

Last year’s regional heat was won by 23-year-old Lauren Abel of Darlington, while the Miss England crown was claimed by Kirsty Heslewood, 24, of Hertfordshire.