UK Calendar Girls and Calendar Men started in 2006 and ran successfully in Plymouth for over 8 years. Due to its success it then expanded to different areas of the country including Bournemouth and Bristol before re-branding for the national competition. UK Calendar Girls are a modelling competition that produce high quality self-branded and self-produced calendars each year and in the process help aspiring models gain an insight into the industry while gaining a huge amount of promotion and confidence with some even going on to have very successful modelling careers.
The competition in the past has also helped many females who maybe suffering from anxiety, low confidence, low self-esteem or needing something to focus on, and through the process of UKCG many individuals have been able to grow in confidence, not just by making lots of new friends but also by taking part in something which is quite different to all other competitions. We accept applicants of all shapes and sizes, we do not discriminate on size and shape, tattoos, piercings, disabilities or modelling experience in fact we look for none professional models who are looking to gain more confidence, camera experience and a chance to experience the industry. Our age range for females is between 18-45 located anywhere in the UK.
We are also an organisation that donate and raise awareness for charities at key events throughout the year, this is an area we feel strongly about supporting. To date we've raised over 50,000 for Cancer based charities and now also Mental Health Awareness, this year we are supporting the Chestnut Appeal for prostate cancer. Please note we are not a charity calendar, we raise funds using officially registered charity pots given to us by various charities at our events and we also donate 10% of ticket sales direct to our chosen Charites. We work very closely with our supported organisation and this year we are supporting
www.chestnutappeal.org.uk.
We have Casting Days in 6 cities around the UK, starting the in March and running through to the end of May, to attend a casting day you have to APPLY and if selected then pre-book to photoshoot slot. At any individual Casting Day you will be photographed by around 6-9 professional photographers that will have their own mini studio set-up, all photographer will give direction on posing if requested or required.
We will also have professional hair / make-up teams available to help you prepare for the shoots on the day.
You have the option to have all your casting day photos (approx 150-250) emailed to you and if you choose this option it means you get to select your favourite 3 for the Text Vote stage of the competition detailed below. If you choose not to have the photos emailed we can choose these photos for you.
Once you've attended a UKCG Casting Day, you have the option to progress to the next stage, the text vote stage. For this you select your 3 favourite images (if you select the option to have all your photos, otherwise we can select 3 for you) from Casting Day and we create a super image for our UKCG website (you can promote this image also if you like).
The text vote runs for 4-5 weeks and the top 80 from the text vote are then invited to our Grand Final! (below is a quick example of some text vote images)
The Grand Final is by far the biggest event we hold in UK Calendar Girls and also a night the finalists will never forget! The venue (usually a large commercial club) is filled with hundreds of guests, friends, family, supporters and sponsors who also flock outside to see the Calendar Girl Finalists arrive in style!
The local council usually assists with a 6-7 limousine convoy pulling up outside the club to drop the finalists off in style where a mass of photographers and film crews await to capture the arrival moment. All guests are given a vote brochure on the night with all 80 girls photos to be able to vote for their top 12.
Announcements Night is usually 3 days after the Grand Final on a Saturday evening. This is a smaller event where we announce the winners of the competition 12 Winners and 12 Reserves. Close friends and family of the finalist are invited to this free event and usually attendance is around 100.
Following this announcement press and marketing photos are take or all 24 girls in the official UK Calendar Girls supplied uniforms on the same night. After these photos the champagne flows as the Calendar Girls and Reserves celebrate the night away in true VIP style.
For the majority of girls the Grand Final is the last part of the process, and they walk away with some great pics, experiences, memories and new friends along with an experience they'll never forget. It's a massive achievement just getting to the Grand Final, however winning a place on the calendar is the ultimate goal for some. Launch night is the first time anyone including the girls see the calendar this is where we unveil the Calendar for the first time to the girls and the public as it goes on sale. This night is a celebration for all the hard work the girls and the team have put in throughout the year.
The Calendar Girls Bar Tour primarily focused around raising money for Charites we are supporting (this year it is the Chestnut Appeal for Prostate Cancer and Mental Health Awareness).
The UKCG bar tour involves getting all 24 girls on a big party bus and going from bar to bar, free entry, VIP and free drinks upon arrival (something that has been organised beforehand), the idea is to raise as much money as possible in that bar and move onto the next bar!
By the end we have usually raised around £1000 in less than 5 hours.
For the lucky 12 Winners and the 12 Reserves (who also make it onto the calendar) the show does carry on, and we have additional shoots for the calendar. The Front cover shoot is the biggest shoot we do in the calendar with all 12 winners being shoot in a group. There is usually a theme which is kept quiet until the launch. The production for this one shoot can take months of preparation and is shoot in just one day. Here are a couple of videos of some Calendar Cover shoots.
The Calendar Girls process from start to finish has a lasting effect for many that see the process to the end. Girls that have entered 10yrs ago still get involved on a staff level even today to experience the competition again from a different prospective, in fact the majority of staff working behind the scenes are ex Calendar Girls themselves. UK Calendar Girls has now grown to be one of the largest and most prestigious modelling competitions in the UK attracting thousands of applications.
Take a look at what some of the previous Calendar Girls Winners and Reserves have to say on our Testimonials page.
