时尚街拍网been chosen for her piece written about her childhood holidays in
Ireland.Here, she shares her experience of the process:
I'd heard about the competition in previous years and thought about entering, but I never went ahead with it.This year I found myself coming up with ideas on several occasions and thinking, "That would work for Vogue."So I decided that this year would be the year I took the plunge!
My winning piece was inspired by the multitude of memories associated with my summer holidays in Ireland.My maternal grandparents were both born in Ireland and I have lots of family there.I've visited pretty much every year of my life, so it really feels like my home from home.As a result, once I'd settled on this as my theme for the memory, the piece came together fairly quickly.
After I submitted my entry, I had no excuse for putting off revision for my end-of-year exams any longer, so I didn't really have time think about my entry much at all!The day after my end-of-year ball, I woke up at midday to a text from my mum telling me to ring her urgently.She told me that she'd had a phone call from Alexandra Shulman's assistant to inform me that I was a finalist.It turns out that a letter had reached my home address two weeks ago, but my parents had just put it on a pile of post assuming it was a subscription renewal!It meant that I only had a week to work out what on earth to wear.
On the day that I - along with the other contest finalists - was invited to have lunch with the Vogue editors, I arrived ridiculously early just to make sure I wouldn't get lost.I then retreated to a corner of Starbucks until the designated time, trying not to panic.The tap in the toilet suddenly splattering water all over me five minutes before I was due to arrive didn't really help my mental state!But the judges were all really welcoming, and seemed genuinely interested in talking to us.Highlights included agreeing on the motivational qualities of Taylor Swift's music with Alexandra Shulman, and taking a peek inside the beauty cupboard during our tour of the Vogue offices.I was conscious of the fact that as a geography student with not much background in fashion I might not be a typical finalist, but the judges assured me that people at Vogue came from a huge variety of backgrounds.Frances Bentley said that different backgrounds bring different perspectives and the more diverse the people, the better the magazine.
I found out that I'd won when I was at work - I have a job in a shoe shop in the holidays.On my lunch break I saw that one of the other finalists had posted on Facebook about receiving an email, so I rang my mum and asked her to check my emails for me.I was so shocked to hear that I'd won - I honestly felt so privileged even to be shortlisted and never imagined that I would be the winner, so the news took a long time to sink in!Then I went back to work to do the last three hours of my shift.
I don't really have a dream job, but I do know that ultimately I want to do something I love, and not just something that pays the bills.I'd love to be able to use writing in my job - whatever it turns out to be.
