CTEC digital media students, Callum Jones and Lucy Rebbeck, have won two awards for their moving documentary ‘Lucy’s Life’.

Happiful Magazine, founded by a former Farnborough student, ran a competition to find fascinating stories that focus on the promotion of good mental and physical health.  ‘Lucy’s Life’ is an intimate and thoughtful short documentary about Lucy Rebbeck’s chronic illness and focuses on her resilience and determination not to let it define her.  Callum and Lucy were awarded ‘Best Student Documentary’.

Paul Maunders, Director of Memiah, the publisher of the magazine, helped choose the winner and selected ‘Lucy’s Life’ because, “It had a great narrative and was extremely well edited.  It had good use of music and really drew us into the story.”   Not only have Callum and Lucy secured a work experience placement with Happiful as part of their prize, they will also get to see their work screened at the Exit 6 International Short Film Festival in September.

The documentary was also entered into the ‘Tri County Award’ category at this year’s Camberley International Film Festival where over 100 applicants, including work of university graduates and studio funded short films, were competing for the title.  ‘Lucy’s Life’ was crowned the winner, with BAFTA winning actress Juliet Aubrey presenting the prize.  Lucy became the youngest ever winner of this prestigious accolade! 

Subject Tutor for media and film studies Jane Thomas said, “Callum and Lucy have created something truly special which is an example of not only Lucy’s determination but also the professional work ethic of them both to create an inspiring piece.”

Callum said, “Making the documentary was an amazing experience.  It was so real and down to earth, it enabled me to film things in a way I never have before.”

The CTEC digital media course provides students with the opportunity to learn about the media industry from both a business and creative perspective.  The award winning piece was the end product of a coursework unit on documentary making.  You can find out more about the course here and here.