South West College was delighted with the tremendous achievements of its students in this year’s BEST Awards which took place recently in Armagh.
Stephen Campbell, SWC Media student won the Entrepreneurial Award with the ‘Waltz of Death’. This short film, written and directed by Stephen, focused on a man’s judgement between good, evil, life and death.
The short film was created out of Stephen’s desire to create a showcase for his practical skills and establish himself as an entrepreneur in the film and video production industry.
Hadyn Duffy, Art & Design student at SWC, took home the Visual Design Award with his ‘Smart Use of Recycled Materials for Fashion’.
This project was sponsored by Marks & Spencer to promote the message - reduce, re-use and recycle - with a fashion twist. After being inspired by various Youtube clips, Hadyn began collecting quantities of thrown away objects, such as coke can pull rings. He then fashioned them into spectacular jewellery and clothing to win this Award.
Art & Design student, Eamon Rafferty took the Runner Up 19+ for ‘Luxury on the Go!’.
Eamon designed a luxurious travel accessory collection for men after identifying a niche in the market for a product that was functional, attractively branded and aesthetically pleasing. He had to think a lot about different mechanisms and ‘the methods of use’ for this product and many challenges were overcome creating an original design.
From its inaugural year in 2010/11, the BEST Awards have grown to become a major showcase for creativity and innovation across Northern Ireland's colleges. With a particular focus on the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), the BEST Awards were created to support students in their project based learning throughout the year, culminating in a Grand Finals Day which in this present academic year will be in May 2013.
Rory O’Loughlin, 3D Design Lecturer and BEST Awards Coach with the College, said: “The SWC students continue to achieve at the BEST Awards...it’s the third year in a row that we’ve won three awards and I’m extremely proud of everyone who was involved in this fantastic achievement.”