Young women from Bath are proving you can have brains as well as beauty as they battle it out to represent the city in the Miss England pageant.

The organisers of the traditional competition are searching for girls to buck the stereotype of the beauty queen and bring it up to date for the present day.

One of those hoping to represent Bath in the national finals is 17-year-old Lina White, who is studying for A-levels in maths, further maths, economics, chemistry and Spanish at Ralph Allen School.

Over the summer she picked up 12 A*s in her GCSEs and is hoping to show people a new side to her in the contest.

Lina said: "My parents were the people who first told me about the competition and I thought it would be something that was fun and a bit different.

"I'm really hoping to go to Cambridge for university and I am really academic so this is my chance to show another side of me."

Lina admitted that most people would not immediately associate intelligent girls with beauty pageants but said it was important that all different types of people entered the competitions.

University of Bath student Emma Corson is originally from Leeds but moved south to start her French and Spanish course in September.

The 18-year-old said: "I'd like to think people won't just judge me on my looks; hopefully they will get the chance to talk more to me.

"I think the organisers of the pageant want girls who've got a little bit more substance to them because you have to be a good representative, you have to be intelligent."

Emma, who is hoping to work in Spain in the fashion industry after graduating, entered the Miss Bath contest after some of her friends took part in a regional Miss England heat in Leeds.

Fellow contestant Harriet Letheren, from Chippenham, has entered a number of beauty pageants before, making it through to the finals of the Miss Galaxy competition.

The 21-year-old, who works for Phones4U in Bath, said: "It is just a fantastic way of getting to know people and I have also managed to do quite a lot of charity work through my pageants too.

"I was really badly bullied at school for my acne and these pageants have given me so much confidence."

Isabel de Larrinaga, who is 20, grew up in Bath and is now studying at the London College of Fashion.

She said she was hoping the competition would allow her to meet new people and be a fun experience.

All the girls hoping to be crowned Miss Bath met the current Miss England, Jessica Linley, to get tips and advice about the competition this week.

Jessica, who is 21 and in her second year studying law at university in Nottingham, said it was important that contestants had some level of intelligence because of the nature of the role.

She said: "The ethos of Miss England is beauty with a purpose. It is so much more than looking beautiful.

"I am not the most beautiful person in England, you have to have a bit more about you. So I think my intelligence really helped me in that sense. Now, travelling around the country and the world, you have to represent the contest and you need to be able to speak to people."

Entries for Miss Bath are open until January 7 and people can sign up by going to www.missengland.info.

Contestants must be aged 17- 24 and must be single, with no children.

The Miss Bath final, which organisers hope will feature 12 women, will be held at the Hilton Hotel on February 3, followed by a regional heat in June and then the Miss England final in July.