Mount Maunganui designer Jo Odgers has been named as a finalist in this year's World of Wearable Art (WOW) awards.
The world-renowned competition is held every year in Wellington and Ms Odgers' entry will be on stage for 10 sell-out shows which are expected to attract an audience of 50,000 people. All entries go through a strict judging process and finalists get picked to appear on stage as part of the show.
Ms Odgers is used to this process, being a finalist in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2009. She then took a break from entering the competition but she entered again last year and was not successful in becoming a finalist.
"I thought it was out of my league ... I was shocked to find out I had been picked as a finalist [this year]."
Ms Odgers said the judging process was cut-throat and tough.