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"   When I first met Stephanie Kercher, I wasn&amp;#039;t sure what to expect. Her sister, Meredith, was brutally murdered in Perugia, Italy, five years ago, and having lived in the glare of the media throughout the high-profile trial that followed, she had, understandably, shunned interviews with the press. But with the fifth anniversary of Meredith&amp;#039;s death looming, and Stephanie&amp;#039;s decision to launch a fund to help her parents financially as their fight for justice continues, she agreed to meet me to talk about her story and our Ultimate Women of the Year Awards. FIND OUT WHO WORE WHAT AT THE PARTY OF THE YEAR When we met near our offices, I was nervous \u2013 Meredith&amp;#039;s death would obviously be a devastating subject to talk about, and I wasn&amp;#039;t sure how Stephanie would deal with being asked about what happened. But as soon as I met her, I relaxed. Stephanie is warm, open and friendly, and her face lights up every time she talks about her sister. As she told me all the wonderful things she remembered about Meredith \u2013 her smile, her laugh, the way she&amp;#039;d help anyone with anything \u2013 she couldn&amp;#039;t help laughing herself.  As we chatted, I discovered that since Meredith&amp;#039;s death, Stephanie has stood alongside her parents in their fight for justice. She&amp;#039;s shown remarkable resilience and strength as the only Italian speaker in her family by travelling back and forth to Italy to liaise with representatives there.  She gave up her marketing job in Portsmouth and moved to Surrey to be closer to her family and decided that the fund that would help her parents financially would also, in future, be put to use to help others in similar situations. MEET OUR VO5 STYLE SEARCH FINALISTS But what stood out most of all was Stephanie&amp;#039;s single-minded determination to keep her sister \u2013 known as Mez \u2013 firmly in the spotlight, despite all the attention given to her murder trial.  It quickly became clear that Stephanie was truly inspirational, and would make a thoroughly worthy winner of an Ultimate Women of the Year Award. Cosmo&amp;#039;s editor, Louise, agreed \u2013 and made her the Ultimate Editor&amp;#039;s Choice winner at last night&amp;#039;s ceremony. Stephanie was thrilled at the chance to keep Meredith firmly in the spotlight two days before the five-year anniversary of her death. On stage at the V&amp;amp;amp;A she dedicated her award to Meredith, and her full story \u2013 told to Cosmo for the first time in our upcoming Awards issue \u2013 is focussed on her very special relationship with the younger sister she lost so tragically. FIND OUT WHO ELSE WON AT THE ULTIMATE WOMEN OF THE YEAR AWARDS... We&amp;#039;re proud to make Stephanie an Ultimate Woman, and I&amp;#039;m proud to have met someone so down to earth, yet so strong and inspiring, whose goal is quite simple \u2013 to make sure her sister is never forgotten. Follow Rosie on Twitter @Mullies "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.co.uk/entertainment/a17832/ultimate-editors-choice-winner-stephanie-kercher-at-cosmopolitan-ultimate-women-of-the-year-awards-sponsored-by-vo5/>