A former film degree student from Cleveland College of Art and Design (CCAD) has won a prestigious award from the Royal Television Society Yorkshire at the regional Student Television Awards.

The awards, which recognise the best in student television from across the Yorkshire region, were hosted by BBC Look North presenter Amy Garcia at Sheffield United Football Club. Prizes were given in six categories: Animation, Factual, Comedy & Entertainment, Drama, News and Short Feature.

In the Comedy and Entertainment category, Kyle Dollard, 23 from Roseworth in Stockton, received the Craft Award his camerawork on the film Slaps. The mockumentary-style film features a young man trying to win a ‘slaps’ competition, and in an homage to the Hollywood film ‘Rocky’ he goes from match to match, working his way up through the rounds to the finals with the help of his best friend and coach.

The film was created by Kyle and fellow film students Matty Gunn, Jodie-Leigh Green and Richard Coote. The team were also recognised for their creative talents as finalists for the Comedy and Entertainment Award for the same film, which was created as their final major project at the university-level campus in Hartlepool.

Speaking on his win, Kyle said: “It felt great winning the craft award for cinematography for Slaps. The RTS is filled with really well made and well shot pieces, so to be part of that is great. Film making is all about celebrating and I don’t think the cinematography would have been able to shine if not for the work of all the cast and crew involved. It was a great night with a nice surprise win and felt like a fantastic final ending to the three years as a student at CCAD.

“Slaps was a great short film to work on and the writer/director Matty did a great job on the script as well as the cast bringing it all to life. Slaps gave me a chance to really play about and be creative with the cinematography when working with the director. I really enjoyed seeing some of the other work at the event and it was a fun night chatting with filmmakers, with everyone leaving feeling inspired about what they will do next.”

Kyle is now working on a project with former student Gavin Murphy, a technician at CCAD, and some of the cast from Slaps on a project called “Grimm up North”. It’s a travel ‘documentary’ showing some of the best sights the north has to offer but with an added folklore twist with inspiration from Grimm’s fairy-tales.

On developing his career in the north east, Kyle said: “The north east is a fantastic spot for film making, it has an amazing industry and community of people always keen to work on projects. I’m looking forward to working on some upcoming projects of my own and to keep learning and developing as a film maker.

The CCAD alumni, who graduated in July 2016, added: “One of the shining moments of the Creative Film and Moving Image degree course was the flexibility, as we had the artistic freedom to do what we want. The degree gave me plenty of opportunity to be creative and to pursue what I want to do in my career.”

Mike Boyle, Acting Programme Leader at Cleveland College of Art and Design, said: “The RTS awards is a great night and it helps the film students really see how their work stands up in competition and importantly how their work is seen by the professional judges. It was great for all the crew to be nominated for the film “Slaps” and fantastic that Kyle won for cinematography. We take as many graduates and students to the awards from all levels to give them a real taste of the industry that they want to work in and what the industry expects from them. It’s one of the real highlights of the year!”

Chair of the Yorkshire Centre, Dr Fiona Thompson, said: “We are delighted with this year’s entries, both for their number and their quality and our thanks go to the students.”