A WORCESTER firm has won a prestigious special award at the Oscars of the Lingerie Industry.

Embrace Lingerie of Reindeer Court, Worcester, was a finalist in the Excellence and Outstanding Achievement category at the Stars Best Shop Awards.

Decided by a public vote, staff found out Embrace was pipped to the post by just a couple of votes when they attended the awards ceremony held at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London, in early November.

Keen for the firm to still be recognised, organisers decided to create a special runners up award, which was hastily hand crafted in Italy, just for Embrace.

Pamela Scott, editor of Underlines Magazine - which hosts the awards - came on stage to tell the audience: “In the nine years of these awards, we’ve never presented a runners up prize, but in this case the vote was so close, we thought it was unfair not to”.

Owners of Embrace, sisters Paula Farrington and Lisa Farrington-Martin, said they were delighted with their success.

Paula said: “The Stars awards recognise the best lingerie retailers in the whole of the UK and Ireland and we are so proud to be classed as one of them, and to put Worcester on the map.

"Thank you to everyone who voted for us.”