UCLan student wins top Royal Television Society award for animation film

30 March 2020

Jamie Walsh scoops North West short form film prize for film ‘Tia’

A University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) student has won a top award from the Royal Television Society (RTS) for a stunning short animation film he created as part of his studies.

Jamie Walsh, a BA Honours Animation Student at UCLan, has been awarded the RTS North West Student Short Form Award for his two-minute animation film ‘Tia’, which depicts the friendship that develops between a teenage boy and a stray cat.

"His entry was up against a lot of competition from neighbouring universities in the North West so it has been great to see Jamie and UCLan come out on top."

Jamie beat off competition from other universities from across the North West to win the award at a special presentation ceremony held in London. He was presented with his award at the ceremony by BBC TV presenter Sally Nugent.

The 22 year old from Bradford worked on the animated film for nine months during his studies at UCLan and was partly inspired by his own experience of having a pet cat himself.

In the film a teenage boy helps shelter a stray cat in the rain then later finds the cat coming to his aid when he is feeling low.

Jamie said: “The idea for the film initially came to me when I came to university and then realised how much I'd missed my cat while I was away from home. In particular I realised how much she had helped me mentally for the past 10 years or so by just being there.”

While creating the animation for the short film, Jamie also used music from Florida based musician and composer Chris Zabriskie in the film.

Last year Jamie also won praise for the prominent role he played in creating a animated video focusing on mental health for UCLan’s School of Medicine.

On winning the RTS award, Jamie said : ‘It is a great honour to have won. There was a lot of great work shown off in every category this year with some really great teams behind them, so even just being nominated alongside everybody was incredible”

 “I'm amazed and extremely thankful that the judges liked my work out of everything that was submitted in such a broad category. It feels amazing and really motivating to see that hard work pay off”.

Ric Brame, UCLan’s Projects Manager for the Faculty of Culture and Creative Industries, said: “Jamie played a pivotal role in the creation in the film for the School of Medicine last year so it is wonderful to see his talent recognised in this way.

“His entry was up against a lot of competition from neighbouring universities in the North West so it has been great to see Jamie and UCLan come out on top.”