Lights, Camera, Award!

Media students and staff from the Supported Learning Department are celebrating after winning a Royal Television Society Award for their exceptional film, ‘Disabled and Living in Walsall’.

Students and staff were presented with the Best Promotional Film Award during an award ceremony held by the Royal Television Society’s Midlands Centre at Birmingham University’s Great Hall on Thursday 4th November.

The Royal Television Society is the leading forum for discussion and debate on all aspects of the television community. In a fast changing sector, it reflects the full range of perspectives and views.

The prestigious Midlands Centre Dinner and Awards Presentation cover all the main categories of television production and are held to celebrate the very best in television production and output the Midlands has to offer.

The winning film, ‘Disabled and Living in Walsall’ explores different areas of daily life for disabled people living in the Walsall area. The film was commissioned by Walsall Disability Forum to be screened at their annual awards dinner last April. It provides an honest insight into what it is like for a disabled person to live, work, shop, study and socialise in Walsall.

The film presentation was made by a group of students and staff at Walsall College. It was directed and produced by College Lecturer, Tanya Lewis and Media Technician, Kaush Patel, with support from members of the Supporting Learning team.

The real stars of the film are the students, all of whom overcame physical and/or learning barriers to help produce the film clips. Students took on varied roles as presenters, researchers and production assistants and brought the project to life with their hard work and enthusiasm.

Tanya Lewis commented: “We are delighted to have won this award. Many people have fedback to us how impressed they were with the quality and professionalism of the completed film. We are so proud of the hard work our students put into the film and hope it will make a real difference to people with disabilities”.

Walsall College student and one of the film’s presenters, Sawarnjit Kumar said: “We are all really pleased the DVD has done so well. We are delighted we have been able to show what life is really like in Walsall for people with disabilities. It was hard work to make but definitely well worth it!”