The Royal Television Society Northern Ireland (RTS NI) Student Television Awards winners were announced last night (2 April 2025) in the Black Box, Belfast at an awards ceremony hosted by Presenter Caoimhe Ní Chathail with the Joe McKinney Memorial Keynote Speech delivered by UTV’s north west reporter Jordan Moore.
The RTS NI Awards encourage, nurture and reward the talent, potential and enthusiasm of students in colleges and universities across Northern Ireland creating film and video content.
The Animation Award went to Ulster University Belfast for Shellbound, by Alisa Kamari which the judges said was a beautiful animation with well-defined characters and an enchanting narrative which would be popular with young audiences.
Queen’s University Belfast students Susie Loane, Amy Lonergan, David King, Eimear Reavey and DaiQing Yongcuo picked up the Best Factual Short Form Award for Danseur, which was described as having a fantastic contributor at the heart of a story that was beautifully and compelling told with wonderful dance sequences and choreography by the judges.
The Long Form Factual Award also went to Queen’s University Belfast for The Ball’s in their Court by Orla Dunne, Therese Farren and Joseph Hinchcliffe. This was a well-crafted documentary with inspiring contributors and impressive production values according to the judges.
Queen’s University Belfast also picked up the Entertainment and Comedy Award for Love From by Oliver Sadlier, Tom Bewley, Rachel McAllister, Sarah McComb, Sian Alexander, Sean Conroy and Leah Watters. The high production values of Love From impressed the judges making it stand out as a refreshing addition to the student film category.
The Drama Award went to Last Fare by Annabel Harkness, Sam Press, Seán McGlone, Danny Liken, Stephen Linkens, Holly Jenkinson, Brendan Robinson and Lucy Carter-Ashmore from Queen’s University Belfast. The judges said Last Fare demonstrated strong storytelling with an intriguing narrative and a well-crafted script.
There were two Craft Award winners for Production this year, one went to Queen’s University Belfast students Arwen Fegan, Matthew Wilson, Georgia McPoland, Michaela Burke and Matthew Martin for That’s News to Me which impressed the judges with its superb insert packages and the research undertaken for these segments was described as being comparable to professional broadcast journalism standards.
The second Craft Award for Production went to Ulster University Belfast students Jonathan Elder, Conor Martin, Gareth Walsh, Ruairi McGonnell and Summer Long for The LEGO Man. The judges felt this film had a very high production standard overall and loved the use of Lego pieces in the reconstructive narratives.
Finally, Christopher McSherry from Ulster University Derry-Londonderry was awarded the Craft Award for Camera Work for his production U of A. Shot entirely on an iPhone, the judges were impressed by the high-quality cinematography by a single person crew.
