ONE of Cumbria's finest young musical talents has notched up another prestigious award.

Ulverston's Jess Gillam was the first-ever recipient of the new Sound of Classical poll award at the glittering Classic Brit Awards ceremony held at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

The award champions emerging new artists and ones-to-watch in classical music aged 30 and under.

Jess was rubbing shoulders with stars from across the world of music who lit up the red carpet of this year's awards show, which was hosted by Myleene Klass and Alexander Armstrong.

The awards returned this year for the first time in five years - reformatted and refreshed, exclusively broadcast on ITV and in partnership with Classic FM - to celebrate the growing appeal of classical and music from film, television, theatre and games.

Jess said: "I really didn’t expect to win so it was a complete shock - I hadn’t prepared a speech. I was extremely happy to win and it’s such a great feeling to bring a Brit Award home to Ulverston – it’s all slightly surreal."

Rising star Jess made music history as the first saxophonist to win the Woodwind Final of BBC Young Musician of the Year in 2016 and was runner up to cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason in the competition's overall final.

She is already becoming recognised as an international ambassador for her instrument and gave a stunning performance in last year's BBC Proms.

She was also named Musician of the Year at the Cumbria Culture Awards in 2015.

Jess followed up her Brit award with a performance on home turf, in the spotlight during the recent Ulverston International Music Festival.

She added: “I absolutely love playing in Ulverston.

“I grew up playing on the Coronation Hall stage and there’s no better place to return to after receiving an award like this.”

Jess will be back on the Royal Albert Hall stage next month performing in the BBC Young Musician Prom on July 15 to celebrate 40 years of the high profile young musicians competition.

And that's not all - the sax sensation will be the youngest ever female soloist to perform at the prestigious Last Night of the Proms on September 8.

Another feather in the 19-year old's musical cap is a record deal with Decca Classics, the label's first with a saxophone player.