Danielle’s award-winning documentary

A University of Teesside graduate is celebrating after winning a regional TV production award about a controversial and emotive subject.

Danielle Jones, 26, from Bradford, a graduate in BA (Hons) Television Production Professional Practice, was named the winner of the Best Student Factual Production award at the Royal Television Society’s (RTS) regional awards.

Danielle’s winning entry was called Working the Zone, a 12 minute documentary exploring the issues around the development of ‘tolerance zones’ where prostitutes are not arrested for soliciting. Danielle’s film will now represent the region in the national RTS awards in April.

The film featured footage shot with the help of community wardens and interviews with prostitutes carried out at the safe environment of the Barnardo’s Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Streets project.

After receiving the award, which was presented by television actor Robson Green, Danielle said: “I was very surprised to be nominated in the first place and I couldn’t believe it when I won. I was really shocked. Working the Zone is a current affairs documentary looking at proposals for a tolerance zone in the St. Hilda’s area of Middlesbrough. I researched the issue beforehand and then set out to interview the people concerned. The general public and local officials were against the idea, while the prostitutes were in favour of it.

“I want to work in broadcast engineering. It’s a behind-the-scenes skill and involves a lot of knowledge of equipment and how it’s used. I chose to study at Teesside because the course was very production orientated which is what I needed. The equipment in the TV studio on-campus is spot on and has excellent facilities.”

The winner of the award by unanimous verdict of all of the judges, Working the Zone was commended by the RTS for tackling “a compelling theme with journalistic maturity. It incorporated a good range of relevant interviews, sympathetically dealt with, within a well-structured piece.”

To find out more about the BA (Hons) Television Production Professional Practice course call 01642 384019.

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