STUDENTS Madi Richardson and Sophie Campbell have designed their way to success in a major international competition.

The girls, both aged 21, are the only entrants from the UK to reach the final — competing in a field of 500 contributors globally.

Madi, who lives in Smithills and Sophie, from Bury, are both year two BA Honours graphic design students at the University of Bolton. Their work, for the Italian-based competition, had a brief of Energy For All, aiming to raise awareness of energy poverty in the developing world.

Madi, who came to Bolton aged five from a Romanian orphanage, based her design on a hard-hitting slogan “Electricity enables children to study after dark” while Sophie used an art-based theme to design a cut-out style poster.

Lecturer Anthony Roocroft said he was “very proud” of Madi and Sophie. He said: “I am over the moon for them.”

The girls have finished in the top 20 alongside other finalists from a range of countries including American, Singapore and Turkey.

Both girls said they were thrilled to have been chosen as finalists. Madi described it as “having more meaning because it was a competition rather than academic work” and Sophie said it was “a huge honour to get to the final of an international competition”.