South Eastern Regional College’s NI Film & Television School HND Class of 2019 crowned Creative Student of the Year

South Eastern Regional College’s (SERC) HND Class of 2019 were crowned Creative Student of the Year at the annual Northern Ireland Creative & Cultural Skills Awards held in Belfast recently.

The cohort made history as, for the first time, the award was presented not to an individual but rather an entire class.

The Northern Ireland Creative & Cultural Skills Awards celebrate the unsung heroes of the creative industries who give young people opportunities to work and learn in the creative industries, ensuring that employers benefit from a skilled generation of talent. 

Northern Ireland Screen’s David McConnell who was one of this year’s judges, was full of praise for SERC’s award-winning class. “The hard work, skills and imagination of the class was clearly evident to all the judges. The high standard of creativity on show demonstrated yet again the breadth and depth of talent at the Northern Ireland Film and Television School”

Alison Thompson, Course Coordinator at NIFTS, explained why the teaching team had felt that they needed to nominate the entire class as opposed to one individual. “This amazing group of students created some amazing content and in second year they asked to make a Short Film on location. They organised the logistics themselves and in January 2019 we headed to Spain to shoot a Short Film in the Marbella hills. After their second year was over, they came to us again with an idea for a third year. We don’t have a third year but as a class, they created one! On Thursday evenings they’re all back at NIFTS where we’re now making a Short Documentary and Short Film together.”

In addition to the class success, the NIFTS tutors, Alison Thompson and Peter Graham, were also joint finalists for the Creative Tutor of the Year Award and walked away as Runners Up on the night.

The Northern Ireland Film & Television School was established at SERC’s Bangor Campus in 2015 and offers a two-year part-time (two full days a week) HND in Creative Media Production. It attracts a range of students from school leavers to mature career changers each year. On graduating, many go straight into industry while others now have the option for direct entry into the 3rd year of Edinburgh

Napier’s BA Hons Television Production degree – as full funding is available (depending on eligibility) for the NIFTS HND course, this means a half-price degree from a UK Top 10 University.