YOUNG dancer Stephanie Lund has tapped her way to a third successive honour.

The 13-year-old, from Shadforth, won the tap dancing category of the International Dance Teachers' Association's North East of England Junior Championships.

She took the title at the Horsforth Festival of Dance, Speech and Drama, held near Leeds, beating about 30 others. Stephanie has been dancing since she was six and has been coached by Vicki Richardson, of Marron Theatre Arts, at Marley Hill, near Gateshead.

Her mother, Val, said: "Stephanie had to perform a two-and-a-half-minute routine and the judges liked her relaxed style and fluency. They just enjoyed her dance.

"We're so proud of her. It is an honour to win the competition three times in a row.

"It is Stephanie's last year in the junior section because next year she will have to move up to the seniors, which is for 14 to 18-year-olds, so it was nice for her to win it again.''

Stephanie, who enjoys other styles of dancing, is a pupil at Belmont School Community Arts College in Durham, which has specialist status in the performing arts and is building a centre for music, dance and drama.

Stephanie, whose ambition is to become a dance teacher, is studying dance and the performing arts among other subjects. "The backing of the school has been fabulous," said Mrs Lund.