NWRC media students nominated for prestigious television award

Brighid Sheridan, James Duffy, Tanisha Harron, Ciaran Lockhart, Daire Ni Chanain and Daire Villa, fron row left to right TJ Harvey, Brogan Doherty and Adam McIntyre

Media and journalism students from North West Regional College have been shortlisted in the Royal Television Society Student Awards news category.

They worked in teams to produce two pieces of work on the general theme of Brexit.

The first nominated film ‘Voices of the Border’ is by Brighid Sheridan, Michael Kane, Dionne Meehan, Daire Villa and Moya O’Donnell.

They spoke to business people, farmers and others living along the Derry/Donegal border to hear about their thoughts and concerns.

The second piece ‘What About Us’ is a film by James Duffy, Daire NiChanain, Ciaran Lockhart, Brogan Doherty, Niamh Meenan, Patrick Sharkey, Tanisha Harron, TJ Harvey and Adam McIntyre.

They posed the question - Has Derry been forgotten and overlooked in all the talk about the impact of Brexit?

They spoke to mental health charities and members of the public, particularly young people, to get their views.

Announcing this year’s nominees, Vikkie Taggart, Chair, RTS NI said: “The RTS is first and foremost an educational charity and these Awards give us the opportunity to celebrate the exceptional audiovisual work being created by students in all manner of disciplines here in Northern Ireland, including Animation, Comedy and Entertainment, Drama, Factual, Short-Form and new for the RTS NI in 2020 News.

“The judges were hugely impressed by the creativity and imagination shown in this year’s entries and we are delighted to provide our emerging talent with a high-profile platform to showcase their work.

“The local universities and colleges are to be congratulated for the vital role they play in ensuring our future generations graduate with the skills necessary ready to start work in the fast moving and vibrant Northern Ireland creative industries sector.”

Bernard McCloskey, Head of Education, Northern Ireland Screen said: “The awards are a great way to nurture and encourage the fantastic emerging creative talent we have here in Northern Ireland.”

The winners go forward to the national RTS Student Media Awards which will be held in London later this year. The winners will also be invited to this year’s RTS NI Programme Awards, where their work will be showcased in front of the top professionals across the screen industries.