RTS NI Student Media Awards: A stunning preview of industry’s future

By Katie Ward

On Wednesday the 3rd of April, I was lucky enough to attend RTS NI’s twelfth annual Student Media awards. Aside from enjoying an evening full of excitement and celebration, I was provided a glittering roadmap of Northern Ireland’s bright future in TV and film.  

The event took place at Belfast’s Black Box and was hosted by radio producer and presenter Caoimhe Ní Chathail, with UTV’s Jordan Moore delivering the Joe McKinney memorial speech. I spoke to both about the significance of the night and the industry’s future. 

‘It’s nice to be involved,’ said Ní Chathail, ‘because I see how much the industry here in the North has given to me – it’s something that I want to see grow, and I want people to be able to stay here and be able to work in media, in the North, so if we can encourage that talent  […] I think that’s really important. So anything I can do to kind of showcase what’s going on […] it’s always quite exciting.’ 

Moore echoed this statement, adding that the film and TV sector in NI is often underestimated. ‘A lot of people in Northern Ireland will always put it down. People will always say ‘why would anybody come here, surely it’s useless?’ But I think some of those awards tonight, they were unbelievable – some of them were industry standard […] it’s great to be able to see that, to know that the industry is doing so well, it’s thriving.’ 

Also present was RTS NI chair Sarah McCafferey, who talked to me about her involvement in RTS Futures – an RTS initiative to assist graduates in finding employment within the industry – and her role in the establishment of the awards.  

‘I had not long left Queens, and I was working in UTV,’ she recalled. ‘At that point the Managing Director was the chair of RTS NI and he asked me if I wanted to get involved, and I did. And what’s happening at that point in your twenties is it’s very hard to know how you get in, and you don’t know anybody […] and so back then I set up RTS futures, and we were the first RTS futures outside of London […] and we ran a load of events, so I used to say; what do you want to be in a few years time, and let’s run an event around it […] and then you get to know everybody, and you run the event, and hopefully it helps you get a job […] and then when I was there in England there was student awards […] so I then went about with Aidan Browne and we set up the first RTS student awards in Northern Ireland […] I was very young and eager, and I really wanted to support the next generation coming through.’ 

When asked how the awards had changed since that beginning, McCaffery had a definite answer. ‘The standard year by year has really improved, and a part of that is obviously the accessibility of technology at home – if you go back thirteen, fourteen years ago they didn’t have the iPhone at the quality it is now – obviously with AI, that will change again.’ 

The ceremony featured the presentations of all six categories live. The winners are as follows. 

Animation  

• Winner: Shellbound: Alisa Kamari – Ulster University, Belfast  

• Highly Commended: The Little Feastly Fable: Carlo Tripp and Harry Rees – Ulster University, Derry – Londonderry  

Drama  

• Winner: Last Fare: Annabel Harkness, Sam Press, Seán McGlone, Danny Liken, Stephen Linkens, Holly Jenkinson, Brendan Robinson and Lucy Carter-Ashmore – Queen’s University Belfast  

• Highly Commended: STATIC: TJ Harvey Kelly, Nathan Toland, Boróka Hegyi, Alex Monaghan, Michael Rooney and Aoife Doherty – Ulster University, Derry – Londonderry  

Entertainment and Comedy Drama  

• Winner: Love From: Oliver Sadlier, Tom Bewley, Rachel McAllister, Sarah McComb, Sian Alexander, Sean Conroy and Leah Watters – Queen’s University Belfast 

• Highly Commended: Hubert: Daenel Carillo, Emma Lown and Dylan Reilly – Ulster University, Derry – Londonderry  

Factual (Short Form)  

• Winner: Danseur: Susie Loane, Amy Lonergan, David King, Eimear Reavey and DaiQing Yongcuo – Queen’s University Belfast 

• Highly Commended: The LEGO Man: Jonathan Elder, Conor Martin, Gareth Walsh, Ruairi McGonnell and Summer Long – Ulster University, Belfast  

Factual (Long Form)  

• Winner: The Ball’s in Their Court: Orla Dunne, Therese Farren and Joseph Hinchcliffe – Queen’s University Belfast  

Craft Award Winners 

• Craft Winner – Production: That’s News to Me: Arwen Fegan, Matthew Wilson, Georgia McPoland, Michaela Burke  and Matthew Martin – Queen’s University Belfast 

• Craft Winner – Production: The LEGO Man: Jonathan Elder, Conor Martin, Gareth Walsh, Ruairi McGonnell and Summer Long – Ulster University, Belfast 

• Craft Winner – Camera Work: U of A: Christopher McSherry – Ulster University, Derry – Londonderry 

I spoke to the Chair of the event, Madeline Whiteside, about what these awards mean to the recipients. 

‘I think all too often, students can undersell themselves, and not quite recognise how brilliantly they’re actually doing in courses,’ she said. ‘They feel like [they] need to get into the industry, and then that’ll be them there, but actually, you’re forging it now, the work that you’re doing as a student is highly commendable  […] it’s the recognition, and the boost that that can give student is so vital. 

Annabel Harkness, winner of the Student Drama category for her work on Last Fare, echoed this sentiment. ‘It adds a level of credibility to each of our roles […] it makes me feel more grounded in that I can actually do this, and I have this odd feeling that I don’t really mind if I don’t win an award for the rest of my life, but just to have this one thing, it’s like – oh I can do it, and I can do it well.’ 

As the night drew to a close, senior QUB lecturer Frank Delaney had some parting words of advice for the graduates, encouraging them to find their Ikagi – a Japanese concept which he describes as ‘finding your life’s purpose […] by cross referencing a few different things […] what you love, what your passions are, what you’re good at, what the world needs, and what you can be paid for.’ If Wednesday night was anything to go on, the rising stars of the industry’s future have all found their Ikagi – which is not just lucky for them (as Delaney says; ‘if you can make all of those things align into one thing, you will live a very long and happy life’) – but for all of us who will be privy to their talent in the years to come.