Bill Vinten University Awards
News
Graduates crowned runners up in national awards
Tuesday, 9 January, 2024A cohort of Bath Spa University graduates packed their bags and travelled to Coventry University to celebrate their hard work and creative enterprise as they took home a double win for their respective short films.
BA (Hons) Film, TV and Digital Production graduates Jake Allen and Tristan Head were delighted to hear that they had been awarded second place in the Bill Vinten University Award’s Individual Prize for their film, ‘Brothers’, while second place in the University Portfolio Prize was seized by the combined score of the three films entered by Bath Spa, also including Tyrese Shipp and Alex Chiles for their film, ‘Dragons’ and Creative Media student Matt Cooke for ‘Its OK, not to be OK’.
Created by the Guild of Television Camera Professionals (GCT) – an international community run by volunteer TV camera professionals aiming to preserve the professional status of camera careers – the Bill Vinten University Awards invites recently graduated undergraduate students from across the country to submit their work for the chance to win an award.
The competition celebrates the teaching of camerawork and craft skills within higher education and offers awards for first, second and third place in the form of paid work experience and a year’s membership of the GTC, including exclusive access to forums on equipment and free nationwide workshops.
With a strong history of success, previous years’ winners have gone on to work with prominent directors on a range of high-profile projects, including Red Joan directors, Sir Trevor Nunn and Zac Nicholson and the hit BBC drama series, Bodyguard.
Bringing a wealth of industry expertise, Technical Instructor in Film Production, Fred Reed carefully curated the entries for the competition and, alongside Senior Lecturer in Film and Script Writing, Ann-Marie McCormack, appeared front row at the awards ceremony to celebrate with the University’s graduates.
Delighted to see his students’ perseverance pay off, Fred said:
“I am so proud of the students. Not least for winning these awards, but also for the application of the teaching in cinematography they have received, on these and other projects over the last year. The GTC University Awards finalists were of very high calibre, so it was brilliant that we came away with two prizes. It will certainly raise the bar for this year's final year students.”
Bath Spa University aims to provide students with transferable, practical skills that prove indispensable when entering professionally creative careers.
Award winner Matt Cooke discussed how his degree was essential to his success. He said:
“The Creative Media course provided me with fundamental skills and a platform to build on. It helped me evolve my practical skills and my ability to communicate my story effectively, reinstating that I was good enough to be part of the industry. I gained important communication skills that have been essential in my Junior Digital Marketing job.”
Working tirelessly to bring their vision to the big screen, the creators of ‘Dragon’s’ have continued their story of success. After submitting their film to a host of film festivals they came out on top once again, beating BAFTA-represented talent at the 16th Annual Southampton Film Week and swiftly following this win with the announcement that ‘Dragons’ had taken the Earl’s Court Film Festival by storm, claiming the title of Best Short Documentary.
BA (Hons) Film, TV and Digital Production graduate Tyrese Shipp explained what these successes meant to him, saying:
“Coming second with my fellow media graduates was a real honour, especially when we were up against some of the big universities. I’d like to thank all the Film and TV staff that have supported and helped me throughout the course.”