Two wins for UWE Bristol students at Regional RTS Awards

The winners of the RTS West of England Student Awards were announced at an awards ceremony at The Everyman Cinema in Bristol on 12 February. The region had received the highest ever number of entries across a range of categories including drama, animation, short form, comedy and entertainment and factual.

UWE Bristol Students Kiki Nafig, Izzy Mooney, Emma Lazenby, Jake Lucas, Poppy Young, Hugh Cowling and Laura Izzard won the Short Form category for their film Nose. Kiki and Izzy were also awarded Craft Awards for their writing.

Kiki has also recently been declared one of Vogue's biggest new 'movers and shakers' for her original approach to makeup design. The recent graduate says that 'Nose' was a difficult project for her: "The film's personal subject means I felt very vulnerable releasing it into the world but receiving recognition and understanding through it makes it feel so worthwhile."

Animation student Efa Blosse-Mason took the Animation award from an all-UWE Bristol shortlist, for her film Earthly Delights. Efa was also award a Craft Award for Production Design, with other Craft Awards for Animation going to UWE Bristol students Stylioanos Tsioupros, Sabrina Marengo, Manurinder Sandhu and Duncan Gilberston.

John Parry, Senior Lecturer in Animation said “Efa Blosse – Mason and her film 'Earthly Delights' is the ninth recipient from UWE of the RTS west student animation award in the last 10 years. For several years now including 2019, UWE have had all three finalists in the running for the animation award. This year all three finalists were female directors, Efa Blosse-Mason, Marta Dias and Sabrina Marengo. We are delighted that UWE animation is recognised by the RTS for producing well-crafted animated stories.”

Pro Vice Chancellor and Executive Dean for the Faculty of Art, Creative Industries and Education, Jane Roscoe said “It's fantastic to have so many of our students receive awards and recognition for their outstanding films at this year's RTS West of England Awards Ceremony. We are incredibly proud of everyone who was nominated and of all the carefully-crafted work that they have produced. We would like to extend a huge thank you to our amazing staff who have supported students across the Film and Animation courses and to the fantastic facilities we have at our City Campus. These awards truly are a testament to everyone involved and we could not be prouder!”

The winning films from the West of England Centre will now be judged at the UK national level in April.