EVERY girl dreams about being a model -- but for one Thornton student the dream came true when she won a competition to be on the cover of a glossy magazine.

Seventeen-year-old Laura Brown, a media studies student at Blackpool and the Fylde College, won the dream prize in the Model of the Year 2001 competition in Over The Counter, a magazine for pharmacy assistants.

Laura works part-time in Lloyds Pharmacy in Thornton and was persuaded by her colleague Trudy Gibson to enter the competition.

She was the unanimous choice of the judges in the competition, sponsored by the magazine and skincare company Oil of Olay, and was whisked to London for a day in the spotlight.

A fellow pharmacy assistant said Laura was surprised to have won. "It was brilliant. She's so quiet and shy and she had to be persuaded to enter. But she was over the moon. She had a really good day," she said.

Laura and a friend enjoyed a champagne dinner and a night at a top London hotel -- the Hilton in Islington -- before heading for the photographic studio. Leading make-up artist Julie Thompson and hair stylist Penny Attwood -- hairdresser to some of Britain's soap stars -- were waiting to turn her into a star.

Three different looks were created for Laura, with one chosen for the cover of the November issue of the magazine.

And as part of her prize she also received more than £200-worth of Olay products and a selection of enlargements of the photographs taken on the shoot.

Laura enjoyed her stint as a model. "It was fantastic. I loved every minute of it," she said.