STUDENT Rosie Paley, from Halesowen College, won praise from TV and sports stars during an award ceremony for the Encephalitis Society after coming runner-up in a national competition.

The 17-year-old hairdressing student was shortlisted from 90 people after writing a poem and completing art work to show how the condition, which causes acute inflammation of the brain, has affected her life. She came runner-up in the art category with her work called Expressions of Encephalitis.

Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington, Emmerdale actor Matthew Bose and Coronation Street actor Bill Ward were all in London to attend the charity event at the H10 Hotel in Waterloo.

Proud mum Helen Paley said: “All the stars spent a lot of time with Rosie praising her poem and art work.

“We were both absolutely delighted when she was named runner-up and it is also a great way of highlighting and raising awareness of her condition.”