The votes have been cast and the results calculated – we can now reveal who you’ve chosen as the most attractive man and woman in the News Shopper area.

Throughout February and early March we asked our gorgeous readers to send in photos of themselves and people they know to prove the point that the south-east London and north Kent area has the most stunning residents.

We were spurred into action when this area was left out of a YouGov poll in which the people of Brighton were rated the hottest in the country (by themselves).

Having set the record well and truly straight, with the dozens and dozens of nominations we received showing beyond any doubt this area’s folks are the best looking, we opened it up to a vote to decide the most dashing man and beautiful woman of all.

Having tallied up the votes cast during the past couple of weeks, we can announce the winners are Mackenzie Lawrence-Shore and Matthew McCarron.

News Shopper:

Mackenzie, 21, from Hither Green, was put forward for the competition by her grandmother Barbara Lawrence who described her as “an incredibly stunning young woman, beautiful inside and out”.

Matthew, 27, nominated himself with the light-hearted boast that “it's already known I'm the most dashing in Eltham” – he can now expand that to the region after his striking pose obviously caught the eye of our voters.

Congratulations to our two winners, who each win a £75 cash prize.

Runners-up in the girls’ category were Hannah Stilwell and Demi Sharp, while Anthony Hutton and Lawrence Hubbard were second and third out of the boys.

News Shopper:

Well done and thanks to everyone else who took part. We had a very wide range of ages and styles among the entrants, and it’s been a pleasure highlighting how everyone is gorgeous in their own way.

Click or tap through the gallery above to view all the photos.