About the Awards
What are they?
To celebrate the talent of young film-makers in Wales, media4schools holds a prestigious Awards ceremony each year, held at Cineworld Cinema in Cardiff.
The event is held to recognise all of the hard work and commitment shown by schools and communities across Wales, with an opportunity for winning films to be shown on the big screen to a wide audience full of industry professionals.
The awards are now in their eighth year and continue to enjoy the sponsorship of Sony UK Technology Centre, who have supported the event from the beginning. The awards has grown in scope each year, with the number and standard of entries received increasing, and more schools and other guests attending the event itself. Feedback from attendees has been overwhelmingly positive, with schools welcoming the opportunity to see their work in a real cinema environment.
Schools and communities compete each year to scoop top prizes for their contributions to the media4schools film awards, covering categories such as best edited film, best animation and the coveted best overall film. Winners are awarded with a fantastic prize and certificate, presented by one of the many VIPs who attend the event, to take back to their school or community group.
Who can enter?
Any primary or secondary school can submit films into the awards. Films can be made by a group of pupils as part of a curriculum-based activity or can be something produced outside of school. There may be a lone budding film-maker who has produced something special – they can enter their films as well. We also have a community-related film category so if you are part of a community group that’s active in film-making, or you’re a school who engages with the local community, you can send in entries too.
Entries submitted can include a mix of films sent independently by the schools and films where media4schools may have worked with pupils at various stages of the production process.
Testimonial
"We have been involved with the media4schools Awards as a school since 2004 and each year our entries have got better (as have our successes!). The Awards add a competitive dimension to the practical media work that our pupils engage in, and with each success at the Awards, the next group strive to better it the following year.
Being involved with the Awards gives our pupils the opportunity to exhibit their work, to have it celebrated and their achievements recognised, which has raised the confidence and sense of pride they have in their films.
Many of our pupils have gone on to film schools and to work in the industry, and much of the enthusiasm that they have fostered in school and taken further in their careers is undoubtedly down to participation in the media4schools Awards."
