Stylists from Mark Leeson’s salons were named artistic team of the year at the HJ’s British Hairdressing Awards.

The artistic team – based in Mansfield and Chesterfield — beat five other category finalists in the national awards, to claim the accolade of being the country’s most visionary and technically excellent hair team.

Going through vigorous judging before being rewarded for their skill, the Mark Leeson team was required to submit eight images of original hair work to demonstrate not only technical skill, but also creative vision and comprehension of current trends.

Mark Leeson said: “What an amazing feeling! Thank you to the judges, and to our partner, Revlon, but the biggest thank you goes to my team — their combined creativity birthed some beautiful images.

“We had an incredible shoot team, and I’m so thrilled that everyone worked so well to produce award-worthy work.”

The Mark Leeson team received the title at Grosvenor House, London in front of a 1,750-strong audience of hairdressing peers, influencers and press, alongside TV personality host Rylan Clark-Neal, Hairdressers Journal International’s executive director, Jayne Lewis-Orr, and awards sponsor Schwarzkopf Professional’s general manager, Julian Crane.

Jayne said: “The team from Mark Leeson already have a strong reputation in the industry, and this success is testament to their eye for producing captivating hair work, full of flair.

“They should be very proud of how they’ve pooled ideas and expertise to produce some stunning imagery — work that rightly gives them the acknowledgement as the country’s leading creative hair team.”