A spokesman for Trinity said that it was all the more notable as she was younger than many candidates.

Olivia has just completed the two year musical theatre course at the Dance School of Scotland based in Knightswood Secondary School in Glasgow and heard the news at the end of term awards night.

The awards evening was an occasion for much celebration for Olivia, as she also won the drama award and was highly commended for the singing award, with performances on the night judged by an external panel of professionals including the artistic director of the Citizens' Theatre and actor John Ramage.

If that wasn't enough, the night ended with the presentation to Olivia of the overall musical theatre award decided upon by the school's musical theatre artistic director Mr Graham Dickie and his staff.

Mr Dickie said: "Olivia is not only one of the most naturally talented students we have developed, she has incredible self-discipline. She has used her two years here to its maximum."

Nineteen-year-old Olivia, from Ruthven, is a former pupil at Airlie Primary and Webster's High School.

At the age of eight, whilst taking classes at Julie Young's School of Dancing in Perth, she played Marta in Perth Rep's production of The Sound of Music.

Further performances in Perth followed, as Olivia appeared in pantos Annie and Carousel as well as in Dundee Rep's production of Gypsy.

Whilst on the musical theatre course she has enjoyed playing a variety of roles from Eliza in My Fair Lady to Miss Sandra, a leading character in one of the first UK productions of All Shook Up, a new musical based around the songs of Elvis Presley but with a hint of Shakespeare.

At the end of her first year, Olivia won the progress award, which included a week's funded place at the 2007 Summer School run by the Guildford School of Acting - one of the top drama schools in the UK.

Having really enjoyed her time at Guildford, Olivia successfully auditioned for a place on the BA (Hons) Musical Theatre course and will be heading off from Angus in September.

"Being in Glasgow has been a great experience," said Olivia, who is the daughter of local musician, David Hood. "I'm now really looking forward to the next stage in developing my career."

The Dance School of Scotland is the country's only fully-funded centre of excellence for vocational dance and musical theatre.

Pupils from across Scotland can apply for places on either the preparatory theatre course starting in S3 or direct entry into the musical theatre course at S5.

Trinity College London is an international examinations board which offers accredited qualification in the performing arts. This is the second year pupils from the Dance School of Scotland have sat the ATCL Diploma, with eight out of the ten candidates achieving distinctions.

Candidates must present a varied performance programme of 25 minutes, including sung and spoken items and one that is dance-based, followed by a viva voce.

At the moment there are no musical theatre degrees in Scotland but there are plans to introduce one at RSAMD starting in 2009.