Chaired by Philip Edgar-Jones, Director of Sky Arts, the awards recognise the best audiovisual work created by students across the UK and Republic of Ireland at undergraduate and postgraduate level. Awards are judged in six categories – Animation, Comedy & Entertainment, Drama, Factual, News and Short Feature.

In the undergraduate categories students from Falmouth University, Kingston University and the University of the West of England will battle it out for the Undergraduate Animation award; while Edinburgh Napier University, Middlesex University and University of Central Lancashire vie for the Undergraduate Comedy & Entertainment title. Edinburgh Napier University also hopes to claim the Undergraduate Drama prize and will compete against Arts University Bournemouth and Dublin Institute of Technology.

Plymouth University, University for the Creative Arts and University of the West of England have been shortlisted in the Undergraduate Factual category; while  University of Salford, University of Sheffield and University of Sunderland compete in the hotly contested Undergraduate News category. The nominees for the Undergraduate Short Feature include: University for the Creative Arts, University of Central Lancashire and University of Wolverhampton.

National Film and Television School leads the way in the postgraduate awards receiving nine nominations, including all three in the Postgraduate Factual category. They will compete against the Royal College of Art for the Postgraduate Animation accolade; are up against Bournmouth University in the Postgraduate Comedy & Entertainment category and will fight it out with University of Sunderland for the Postgraduate Drama award.

City, University of London; Goldsmiths, University of London and University of Central Lancashire will compete for the Postgraduate News title.

In addition, to reward excellence in craft skills, undergraduate and postgraduate awards will be presented for camerawork, editing, production design and sound. Entries are not accepted for these categories and the prizes will be awarded at the judges’ discretion. One winning student will also receive the newly introduced Judges’ Award.

Click here to see the full list of nominees.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony on Friday 16 June at the BFI Southbank. Click here for more information.

Watch highlights from last year's RTS Student Awards: