Leanne Brown from Sanrizz ended her L'Oréal Colour Trophy journey on an incredible high as she picked up the runner-up award in the L'Oréal Men's Image Award category. Leanne, a one-woman styling sensation was responsible for the total look on her male model, even down to choosing the outfit he wore!

Over 1,200 of the world's top hairdressers applauded as Leanne collected her award from the evening's ultra-fashionable presenter Fearne Cotton and stylist to the stars, Richard Ward. Speaking moments after she came off stage, it was clear that the enormity of her achievement would take a while to sink in and she said; "This has been one of the most incredible and exhausting days of my life!"

Talent, drive and determination saw her through three tough rounds of the competition which started way back in March. Over 1,200 salon teams entered, 350 Regional Finalists were short-listed; with 45 Finalists selected to compete at the Grand Final.

On the day of the Grand Final Leanne represented the London region and was among 9 teams from across the UK vying for the top spot in the L'Oréal Men's Image category. Under the brief 'hair inspired by fashion' competitors spent 2 hours colouring, coiffing and styling their model to perfection before a host of hairdressing legends were brought in to judge their work.

Here Leanne explains the thinking behind her striking image: "I'm really interested in images from the 1920's and 1940's and I wanted the movement of the hair to reflect the style of these times. I had a very clear vision of what I wanted to achieve with the overall look and worked closely my model to come up with an outfit that truly suited his personal style."

TV favourites Richard Ward, Charles Worthington and Trevor Sorbie were among the panel of industry peers deliberating over who should be the winner. They agreed that Leanne had the brief set by L'Oréal Professionnel.

Unaware of their fate, competitors and their supporters made their way to the spectacular Grand Final event at Earls Court 2 where they watched their model stride out onto the catwalk. Throughout the evening there were stunning shows by Zoë Irwin for Headmasters and Tim Hartley in addition to an exclusive preview of fashion designer Aimee McWilliams' Autumn/Winter 07 collection.

As the competition headed towards its dramatic conclusion, tension was riding high on the Leanne's table. The moment she heard her name read out there was disbelief then delight as she explains. "It was the perfect end to my experience, even though I was working on my own, I had my colleagues from the Guildford and Covent Garden salons around me for support. It's been absolutely amazing."

In what proved to be a phenomenal night of success for the salon group, Sanrizz swept the board with Maria O'Keefe from their London salon picking up the overall winner title in the L'Oréal Colour Trophy and Leonardo Rizzo from the Guildford salon winning the Southern Region and also the third place title in the overall competition. Its little wonder that Sanrizz big boss Tony Rizzo danced down the catwalk as his teams left the stage!

Leanne, whose main role within Sanrizz is training and education has impeccable credentials as an ambassador for the company's creative vision and is looking forward to returning to the salon floor so that she can pass on her knowledge.

"My look balances classic cutting and creative vision which are principles I work closely with when I'm training Sanrizz stylists," explains Leanne. "I will be drawing on the inspiration I've gained by winning this award and passing on my knowledge to all of our students who in turn, will provide clients with an amazing hairdressing experience. It's incredible to think of the positive impact that winning this, and all our other L'Oréal Colour Trophy awards, will have on the business."