The votes are in and the 2017 NovaLash LASHoff Lash Artist of the Year has been crowned!

Sarah-Anne Barham of Sarah-Anne’s Beauty in Felixstowe, England, has won NovaLash’s seventh-annual lashing competition. Barham represents a couple firsts for the title—at 23 years old, she is the youngest Lash Artist of the Year NovaLash has had, and she is the first winner from the U.K.

Barham proved herself a standout among a record number of competing NovaLash certified stylists.

“Sarah exemplifies the standards, professionalism and techniques that have become synonymous with NovaLash,” says NovaLash CEO Sophy Merszei. “The quality and time she dedicates to her work, coupled with her sensational artistry, put her a step above.”

Merszei announced the winners at the brand’s annual LASHoff, an elite competition that features the work of top-level lash artists from around the world. In this year’s LASHoff ceremony at the Hotel Derek in Houston, Merszei crowned the 2017 LASH Artist of the Year, Barham, and the Fans’ Choice winner, Kelley Delmonico of New Reflections in Fridley, Minnesota.  

“All of my success I owe to NovaLash,” Barham says. “Not only have they given me outstanding education and the best support I could ask for from a company, but the brand itself is the best out there!”

To select Lash Artist of the Year, a panel of judges—which included MODERN SALON’s Editor in Chief Alison Alhamed and Associate Editor Jamie Newman—reviewed all finalists’ submitted videos and still images. Other judges included NovaLash VP of Global Education Sophia Navarro; Eye Lash Editor-in-Chief, Karie L. Frost; Co-Founder and a Director of the National Eyelash Education and Safety Association (NEESA), Amber Arrington; Tialutrell McCormick, former NEESA Vice President and current governor-appointed member of the Nevada State Board of Cosmetology; and of course Merszei herself. Contestants were evaluated on application technique, product use, client communication, creativity and overall spokesmanship.

Fans’ Choice winner, Delmonico, was selected by the online audience, who reviews the finalists’ still images and votes on favorites.

As Lash Artist of the Year, Barham receives over $25,000 in cash, prizes, advertising, marketing and travel with NovaLash. As the Fans’ Choice, Delmonico takes home a similar winner’s package valued at $10,000.

Other winners included artist Amber Peters of Elite Lash, LLC in Dallas, who took the top spot in the Classics category, and Kate Baxter of The Dolls House in Inverness, Scotland, who won the Volume category.