Top television journalism awards for two UCF students

Two graduates from University College Falmouth's MA in Multimedia Broadcast Journalism course have won national recognition for the excellence of their television work.

Tom Goudsmit and Sophie Waldron have won first and second prize respectively in the Current Affairs Feature section of the Broadcast Journalism Training Council Student Awards (BJTC). At the awards ceremony, held at the London headquarters of the National Union of Journalists, Tom was also presented with a cheque for £500 for his entry in this category, which was sponsored by Channel Four Television.

Tom and Sophie's television programmes were made as part of their work for their final MA projects.

Tom travelled to Israel and the Palestinian West Bank last summer to take a thought-provoking look at the way in which their education systems entrench the hostility between the two communities. His documentary featured telling interviews with children and educators.

"I'm honoured that my film has been recognised with this award," said Tom. "The support I received from Falmouth was brilliant and I was continually encouraged by all of my tutors and the media staff to tell this story."

Sophie explored the parallels between the violent video simulations used by the armed forces and police to train their personnel in situations of conflict, and the similar effects of fight or flight that violent video games have on adolescent gamers.

"Convincing people that violent video games could possibly have an impact on some children was an enormous obstacle and one that I hope this film helps to overcome," explained Sophie.

Having been awarded their MAs last November, Tom is now working as a freelance video journalist in London and Sophie as an Assistant Producer with Hat Trick Productions on a new current affairs news quiz.

"These national awards reinforce the reputation of Falmouth as one of the leading centres of excellence for education in all the facets of Multimedia Journalism, said Joint Course Leader, Guy Pannell. "The judges clearly recognised the superb quality of the planning, thought and production values of our students' work. This is the third time in four years that our students have won national awards for television projects. That's a great incentive for the current crop of students to follow in their footsteps."

MA Multimedia Broadcast Journalism at Falmouth reflects emerging technologies and the changing face of news gathering and dissemination in the 21^st century, and is accredited by the BJTC. The course enjoys an impressive graduate employment rate and has launched the careers of, amongst many others, Matthew Amroliwala (BBC News and Crimewatch), Fergus Walsh (BBC News), Angus Walker (ITN News), Lorna Dunkley (Sky News) and Richard Gaisford (GMTV).

For further information about MA Multimedia Broadcast Journalism at University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/multimediabroadcastjournalism, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 214386.

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.

This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012, that will be unique to the South West.

The College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union, the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council.

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For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792; or email: jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

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