Proud glasses wearers celebrated their specs last night in London at the annual Specsavers Spectacle Wearer of the Year Awards.
Now in its 21st year, the competition asks for entrants to upload a selfie in their specs, with thousands of people entering every year.
The star studded event was launched by former Pussycat Doll Kimberley Wyatt and hosted by TV personality Rylan Clark-Neal.
Antiques guru David Dickinson was presented with the Services to Specs accolade, while former Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle was awarded the Best Specs Newcomer award having picked up her first pair of glasses this summer.
Dame Mary Perkins, co-founder of Specsavers, told Optician at the event: ‘It’s so important for eyewear to be accessible, and we only have to look around the room tonight to see the amount of people wearing fashionable glasses - some of them don’t even need them.
‘The different age groups within the competition show how popular glasses are for every age, and seeing young people on social media embracing glasses is fantastic.’
Girls Aloud star Nadine Coyle was awarded the Best Specs Newcomer
Derek Dubery, 44, from Windyridge, Co. Down, was presented overall Spectacle Wearer of the Year award, winning an all-expenses trip to New York, £10,000 in cash and £1,000 to spend on eye care at Specsavers.
He said: ‘I really didn’t dare hope that I’d win, I’ve entered the awards for the last three years and had been a regional finalist for the past two years so I didn’t expect to get any further than that. It was easy to take a selfie, I do it all the time.’
£88,000 was raised from award entries, sponsorship, ticket sales and a luxury raffle for anti-bullying charity Kidscape, bringing the total raised by Specsavers for the charity in the last seven years to £418,000.