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News article

Clean sweep for student films at Royal Television Society awards

Published: 21 March 2012

Film and Television students from York St John University have won five prestigious awards at the Yorkshire Royal Television Society (RTS) Student Awards at a special ceremony held at York Racecourse on Tuesday 20 March.

The awards, judged by a panel of industry professionals, included a clean sweep in the factual sections, will all three awards going to student teams from York St John University. Runner-up prizes in the fiction and entertainment sections were also secured by teams from York St John.

It was a particularly good night for director James Copson, described by the judges as a “rising talent”, who received two awards for his documentaries. James claimed victory in the factual section with the film ‘Andrea’, a moving and intimate portrait of how care roles can be reversed with the onset of Parkinson’s disease. James and his team also won a runner-up prize for the documentary ‘Anorak’, an amusing and wry look at trainspotters.

The Yorkshire RTS Student Awards give students the opportunity to compete against talent from across the region’s universities and to showcase their work to some of the industry’s biggest names. They are the only awards which are judged by professionals in the television and broadcasting industry and are the gold standard of quality.

Martin Downie, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at York St John University said:

“It’s a fantastic honour to win these top awards and a real endorsement of the quality and strength of the Film and Television programmes at York St John. To sweep the board in the factual category is the icing on the cake and is testament to the exceptional quality of teaching within the department.”

The winning film ‘Andrea’ will now be entered to represent Yorkshire at the national RTS Student Awards held in London in May 2012.

York St John University winners

Factual winner: ‘Andrea’ - James Copson, Arran Worsley, Sian Powell, Katy Yates
Factual runner-up: ‘The Market’ - Edwin Buckley, Janette Hodds, Jessica Ledger, Emma McShane, Ben Sheldon, Hannah May-Smith, Brendon White, Joseph Woollen
Factual runner-up: ‘Anorak’ - Hazel Anson, Nancy Brescolles, James Copson, Martin English, Elliot Hardey, Susan Robbins
Fiction runner-up: ‘Funny Ha-Ha’ - Thomas Adair, Kate Forrest, Rebecca Martin, Oliver Pullin, John Rochford, Chris Smith, Thomas Storey, Alex Sutton, Alex Wilkie
Entertainment runner-up: ‘About Me’ - Sally French, Samuel Glover, Benjamin Allen, Charlotte Flower, Laura Sharples, James Hetherington, David Bower, Katie Nuttall, Nick Bolton, Chris Comins, Katie Brown

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