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BA (Hons) Film Production alumni (2022/23), Alex Carpenter has won the  - .

Alex received the award for his cinematography in his graduation film, Tinsel, a comedy tale, about a Christmas Elf becoming an unlikely hero of an armed hostage situation, all whilst working in a quaint British garden centre.

The University was also nominated for the prestigious Bill Vinten University Trophy, which acknowledges ‘excellent teaching of camerawork, cinematography and craft skills within UK educational establishments’. This trophy is awarded to the institution with the highest scoring portfolio of films submitted to the competition. 

Ben Thompson, Principal Lecturer in the School of Film, Media and Communication, said: “As a film department, we are delighted with this recognition and very proud of Alex for winning this award. This is a real testament to the talent and endeavour our film students go through to make such creative and quality short films and a positive start to this new academic year.”

The University has a long association with the GTC, with some of our academic staff being members of the Guild, as well as past successes in this competition. It won the University Trophy in 2016 and runner up in 2021 and 2022, as well as individual student winners and runner's up in 2015 and 2019.

The award ceremony took place at Coventry University. Undergraduates placed first, second, or third in the individual Bill Vinten GTC Awards receive paid work experience and a year’s membership of the GTC. Recent winners have worked with Director Sir Trevor Nunn and Director Zac Nicholson on the film Red Joan and DoP John Lee on the Jed Mercurio hit BBC drama series, Bodyguard.

These awards are a result of a collaboration between the GTC and the late Bill Vinten OBE, one of the GTC's longest standing supporters and sponsors and founder of Vinten Tripods.