Student Success in Merseyside Road Safety Partnership Competition

The films aim to raise awareness surrounding drug-driving. Those submitted by Southport College students, all had hard hitting themes, depicting or referring to drug-use, before taking to the road, and the devastation this can cause.

Impressively, two of our shortlisted entries went on to claim top prizes, including Cian Radcliffe’s “One trip you won’t get over” and another team effort from Dom McCaw, Harry McGrath and Luke Talbot, “Taken drugs? Don’t take the car.”

Cian Radcliffe's winning film on Merseyside Road Safety Parnership's YouTube channel

Also worthy of being shown on the big-screen at the awards evening were solo projects from William Smith and Philip Rigby, and a team project from Tom McDougall, Josh Daw and Noah Ziegler Atkins.

Representatives from Merseyside Police and Partnership for Road Safety visited the students in the initial production stages. Southport student Dom McCaw (17) revealed that his team pitched the idea of focusing on not taking the car rather than not taking drugs, “if people are going to take drugs, not much is going to stop them but hopefully, we can prevent them taking the car afterwards.” This went down well, avoiding clichés which can soften the impact of such messages. Dom also said “Now our film is being used in such a high profile campaign, we are not only getting our names out there but we could actually be saving lives, which is quite overwhelming.”

This work is invaluable for portfolios and career prospects, Harry McGrath (18) said “It’s great to show future employers that I’ve produced a film for the Police, with a special commendation from their Chief.” Landing an award on his first live-client project gave him a real boost.

Luke Talbot (17) reflected on the gravity of producing one of the top 4 films, “Without the education and teaching from staff on how to use the equipment available to us, we would never have been able to produce such a high-quality film. All the hard work has paid off and it is great to say that I am now actually an award winning film maker.”

We at Southport College are very proud of each student involved, as is their Curriculum Leader, Yvette Wheddon who said “We are always keen to engage with live client opportunities as they provide us with industry led experiences. Our Creative Media students have engaged with this brief, producing high standards of work. As a team we are very proud of their achievements.”

Co-ordinator for Merseyside Road Safety Partnership, Sarah English, praised the students on their outstanding work. “Your submission had a huge impact on the judging panel: some found it difficult to watch, and none were able to forget it – a perfect match to the brief… We are pleased to commend you for this piece of work, and predict a bright future for your media career.”