A FORMER pupil of Budehaven School has been named ‘number one’ at the National Hair and Beauty Awards for his unique makeup training academy.

Paul Bate, is a former pupil at Budehaven School and now runs a permanent makeup training academy with his wife, Katy Jobbins, in Sussex.  

However, at 2024’s National Hair and Beauty Awards, the business was named as the ‘number one’ training centre in the entire UK.  

The glittering event took place at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham, with the whole hair and beauty industry gathered for the VIP Red Carpet Ceremony.   

Paul and Katy’s Permanent Makeup Training Academy was up against the best of the best from across the country, as each hoped to be crowned winner of the ‘Education Excellence’ award.  

Discussing the moment, Paul said: “We saw the top 50 places slowly get named, with the results flashing up on the screen slower and slower until it got to the top 10, then top five, then third placed training company, runner up… we thought to ourselves, well, we’ve either come nowhere at all or have gone on and won the whole thing.” 

Luckily for Paul and Katy, they had done just that, as their Permanent Makeup Training Academy was named national winner of the HBA’s ‘Education Excellence Award’.  

To add to their celebrations, Paul’s wife Katy, who trained his sister Kelly in permanent makeup and now runs her own Clinic in Bude, was also named in the top 10 for ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ as well as the second best permanent makeup brow artist in the UK.   

Paul added: “When we saw that we had won, we were not quite sure what to do.  When you are amongst thousands of your industry peers and it’s you they are all cheering for, it was quite overwhelming.  Luckily we managed to quickly get ourselves together and walk up onto the stage to collect our trophy. It was also lovely to share the moment with so many of our students who were also in attendance and up for multiple awards themselves.”