Young people's media festival 2011

The Royal Television Society (RTS) North East and The Border Centre has held its annual Young Peoples’ Media Festival at Teesside University.

The event marked the 23rd year of the Festival and showcased work produced by talented youths across the regions.

Andrew Bell from Cleveland College of Art and Design was named the winner of the Entertainment Category for his film Pandora’s Box, while Matthew Lake from Stockton Riverside College Bede Sixth Form received a certificate of commendation in the same category with his entry Halo.

Andrew, 17, from Stockton-on-Tees, said: 'I want to work in animation when I’m older and it’s brilliant to win this prize. Being recognized by the RTS is excellent.”

Cottingham High School’s Charlie Hogg won the Drama Category with his film Recurrence.

Charlie, 18, from Hull, said: “Everyone else’s films were really good. I want to be a film maker when I’m older.'

The Professionally Supported Category was won by a group of students from Bright Start Media /Time Out of the Box – Danielle Rainbow, Liam Keenan, Dani Symmonds, Joe O'Donnell, Ambreen Hussain, Mehreen Hussain and Lucy Jeff – with their entry Life for Life.

Mehreen, 17, from Longlands, Middlesbrough, is a student at St Mary’s College, Middlesbrough. She said: 'Winning this was a real OMG moment!'

Joe, 17, from Saltersgill, Middlesbrough, also from St Mary’s College, said: 'We were surprised. There were a lot of good films in this category.'

BBC TV presenter Kirsten O’Brien, who is originally from Nunthorpe, Middlesbrough, presented certificates which recognise the achievement of RTS standards to the winners following a show reel of each category’s entries.

Kirsten told the audience: 'I’ve been struck by how much incredible talent there is here tonight. This is the best job in the world, I absolutely love it and you’ve demonstrated already that you are brilliant at this. My advice is, don’t give up; there are so many different ways you can get into the media and so many more opportunities. And don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t do it from this region.'

There were two certificates of commendation handed out in this category, one to the students of Humana CIC for their entry One man and his country – Kadir Jafar, Hassan Altimmini, Usef Elkira, Sheraz Tanveer, Zohaib Tanveer, Feysil Mohammed, Ali Saleem, Ihtishaam Shahid, Donny Shahid – and one to the filmmakers from Northern Stars Young Film Makers Academy for Love thy neighbour, Joe Kroese, Will Murtagh, David McNally and Eliza Clark.

Tony Edwards, Chair, RTS YPMF Steering Group 2011, said: 'We have been witness to some remarkable media entries and the RTS is proud to have initiated an event which supports the ongoing success of media in institutions and organisations within our region. The future of the media industry sector rests with the creative talents of our young people. The winners tonight clearly indicate that our region is at the forefront of supporting our young people in their endeavours in media.'

Around 150 teenagers aged 14 to 19, from across the North-East, submitted entries for judging at the Festival in the categories of entertainment, factual, drama and professionally supported. Their entries were judged by the Event’s Chair, Tony Edwards, Matt Dennis, Creative Director in the University’s School of Arts & Media, Clint Crisp, Independent Producer and Joanna Makepeace, Creative Co-ordinator, Northern Film and Media.

The Festival, which was also supported by Sunderland University and Gateshead College, used the following RTS defined issues and criteria when judging the entries: visual and audio creativity, craft skills (including graphics, editing, narrating and acting), initiative and story-telling.

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