A COMPETITION for media students – run by the Scottish branch of the Royal Television Society – reaches its climax tomorrow evening, when nine films battle it out for three prizes.
The final nominees – from the University of Abertay, Edinburgh College of Art, Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee – have been competing in three categories: factual, drama and animation. The nine films, three in each category, were selected from around 30 entries from full- and part-time media students across Scotland when the competition opened last month.
The final is taking place at the University of Glasgow’s Gilmorehill Centre.
Finalists in each category gain automatic entry into the RTS National Student Awards, in London in May, which has witnessed Scottish victories on three occasions.
In 2006, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama was awarded in the Undergraduate Drama title; 2005 saw Ewan McNicol from Edinburgh College of Art take the Undergraduate Factual Award; and in 1999 Edinburgh College of Art took both the Animation and Non-Factual Awards.
The ceremony – organised annually by RTS, to, says its website, “recognise the best audiovisual work created by full- or part-time students as part of their course” – will be attended by students and tutors as well as the industry professionals, with Sue Morgan from BBC Scotland and Seona Robertson from Caledonia TV forming part of this year’s competition jury.
Henry Eagles, chair of RTS Scotland, says the event is a great opportunity for students to gain their first taste of working in television, while giving industry professionals the chance to cast an eye over the work of potential animators, directors and producers. “The awards are very important to RTS because they reflect how imaginative and skilful young people are and lets us understand their potential. Their work is the future, and that’s what RTS is aiming for,” he told allmediascotland.
