Salford wins at RTS North West Student Television Awards

The respected awards celebrate the best audio-visual work created by students, with categories across Animation, Camerawork, Filmmaking, Editing, Production Design, Sound and Writing.

BA (Hons) Television and Radio Production alumna, Sophie Coupe, won the Best Factual Award. This was for her piece Taking Control: Sex Work as a Modern Industry, that she completed for her final year major project last June.

Speaking about her win, Sophie said: “I’m absolutely over the moon to be able to say I’ve made an award-winning film! I’d like to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped me both on and off camera as I'm hugely grateful to them all. 

“I've actually been in talks with two of the contributors from the film on making a follow up documentary with them as they’ve started running their own events in Manchester, so this win is a big boost.”

Winners in other categories were Dan Finch for Best Comedy and Entertainment, and Aiden Vincent and Alex Hargraves for the Best Editing (Craft) Award and the Best Writing (Craft) Award for Running a Marathon Without Training. Aiden said: “It was a great surprise to even be nominated for an award, especially since second year work has never been nominated for the factual category before. So, I’m super happy with actually securing two craft awards.”

Dan, a BA (Hons) Television and Radio Production alumna, who won for his piece Login said: “Being Nominated for an award, never mind winning one, never even crossed my mind while I was creating my final project so I’m still in complete shock. It’s amazing to be recognised for the hard work put into your project. The work that comes out of the university is one of the highest quality, so it’s no surprise to me that there were five other students from Salford in the same category, and every single one was well deserved. I do have to say thank you to everyone who helped me with the show, especially Moira Kean, my TV Studio lecturer and project supervisor for the guidance throughout.”

University of Salford Lecturer, BA TV & Radio Production, Moira Kean, said: “All the students work really hard as a team across all our TV studio shows and are absolutely exhausted, but totally bonded, by the end. The nominations and the award are well-deserved and a great tribute to a fantastic group of students, supported by our amazing tech team.”

These students follow in the footsteps of Romanian-born filmmaker and BA (Hons) Television and Radio Production graduate Dorothea Sterian who scooped the awards for Undergraduate Editing and Undergraduate Writing at last year's national RTS Student Awards. Dorothea has gone on to big success in the industry, recently working on an exclusive Janet Jackson documentary produced by Workerbee for A&E.

Lyndon Saunders, Programme Leader for BA TV & Radio Production at the University of Salford, said: “You don’t make programmes to win awards but… it’s certainly very nice when a gong or four comes your way! We’re absolutely thrilled for our students and graduates at the amazing number of shortlisted nominees from the course, and the four RTS awards they walked away with.

“The RTS is made up of an illustrious cohort of television talent, so for our students and grads to be recognised by them at this early career stage is brilliant and deserved. Thanks also goes to our talented and specialist lecturing and technical team who teach and support all our students the whole way through.”

There were ten BA Television and Radio Production students who were nominated for an RTS North West Student Television Awards in total, and many more from the Film Production and Animation degrees, showing testament to Salford’s world-class media courses. This included: Lucy Campbell - 60 Second Dates, Jess Hilton- Crafternoon, Linus Bruggen - Queer Your History and Anna Guest - Detective Fenwick.

Film Production won three Craft Awards, Juliette Holmes won for Scriptwriting on The Cabin Below a Diamond Sky, Ronan Bartley and Nathan Brown won for Production Design and Editing on Keeping it Reel, and Owen Cull and Nathan Brown won for Production Design and Sound on Six Weeks in Cairo. 

Beth Hewitt, Director of Journalism and Creative Technologies, Media City Campus, said: “It's fantastic to see the creative and innovative achievements of our students' media and film-making abilities reflected in this year's RTS NW Student Awards. Their time at the University of Salford provides them with so many opportunities to work alongside industry, collaborate with media experts and be taught by our dedicated and highly experienced media academics.”

Debra Prinselaar, Director of Film and Broadcast Media at The University of Salford, added: “These awards are in recognition of the student talent and provide a great platform that supports graduates in their careers and in being the emerging media industry creatives, technologists, and future leaders.”

View the full list of winners and nominees.