Mags: Model search winners

You might recall the media interest around Girlfriend magazine's 2008 Model Search finalists, which included then 12-year-old (she's now 13) Karla Reid. Well, the votes are in and it's not Reid but 15-year-old Kate Budrodeen (pictured on left) who's taken the crown this time 'round (as with past winners Sarah Stephens, Abbey Lee and Catherine McNeil, the media coverage will likely kick in when she eventually 'makes it' overseas).

As I've mentioned before, I was impressed to see that Girlfriend/Chic's selection of finalists this year all appeared to register within a healthy weight range. Budrodeen, who hails from Clareville, NSW, and sports a pair of braces, is gorgeous (see her pictures from the January issue below). She maintains a balanced diet (Weet-Bix with honey and banana; salads and sandwiches for lunch; fruit for snacks; "whatever mum cooks" for dinner) and likes to play netball, swim, go for walks and practise yoga ("I just exercise when I feel like it, really," she says). Let's hope she doesn't fall victim to the weight pressures of the NYC/Europe scene a la Abbey Lee (who used to be enviably voluptuous – in model terms, at least – and healthy looking).

Also new to the professional modelling scene is the winner of the Supreme Management/V Magazine model search, 16-year old Canadian Addison Gill (also pictured). Let's hope this youngster gets the support she needs, too. As we know from the case of Ali Michael, without the correct support and supervision, the international modelling world can be brutal for an impressionable young girl. And tempting – Patty Huntington has taken issue with 16-year-old Australian model Tallulah Morton's partying antics. Ironically, both Lee and Morton are also featured in this month's Girlfriend.

Images from Budrodeen's shoot...



Yours truly,
Girl With a Satchel