Sunderland pals, Gemma Waugh and Laura Reed, from the city's Venerable Bede School, ware hoping to win a trip to design a new range of Bratz fashion dolls in Los Angeles, California.

The Wearside teenagers are among the lucky five pairs who will feature in the six-part Bratz Design Academy show on the Nickelodeon channel, starting on Friday.

The programme, which will be hosted by Blue Peter presenter Zoe Salmon, will feature guest judges, including girl band The Saturdays, stars of award-winning musical Hairspray and top fashion designer Ben de Lisi.

In each episode, the judges will set the competitors a new challenge and work with the teams before their design is revealed on the catwalk.
And the pair of fashionable friends who win the final will be awarded the dream trip.

"I was ecstatic when I heard we'd got through to take part in the Bratz Design Academy," said Gemma, 14. "Laura and I worked on the competition entry in our textiles lesson at school.

"Our teacher, was just over the moon for us when we heard we'd got through. I've learnt so much and made heaps of new friends. I'm just so excited to watch it on TV."

Laura, also 14, said: "Gemma and I were so amazed when we heard we'd got through and I was speechless that we'd be competing alongside some of the other best young designers in the country. I'm not bothered if we win or not as the whole experience has just been incredible."

Bratz represents a multimillion-pound franchise for MGA Entertainment.
The 10-inch dolls are characterized by large heads with wide eyes, full lips, very small noses, short torsos, and shoes that can be snapped on and off.

The popularity of the four primary dolls – Cloe, Yasmin, Sasha and Jade – eventually encouraged development of additional friends, spin-offs, feature films, games, music albums, and a successful television series.

Zoe Salmon, said: "The girls in the show are so talented and the prize is a dream-come-true for any budding designer, plus we've got some fantastic guests helping them along their journey. I can't wait to see who wins."

The first episode will be shown on Nickelodeon this Friday at 5.30pm.