Winners announced of mental health film competition Frame of Mind

Walk in My Shoes, the flagship awareness-raising campaign of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services, has announced the winners of its annual ‘Frame of Mind’ short-film competition.

Now in its seventh year, ‘Frame of Mind’ asks amateur film makers to promote a positive mental health message through film.

A record-high number – almost 100 entries – were submitted and “has highlighted the importance people are placing on mental health at this time,” says the organisers.

The competition was open to secondary school students and filmmakers, who were asked to create a short film of up to three minutes long, “sharing affirming mental health messages or addressing misconceptions about mental health difficulties.”

This year’s competition also included the first ever TikTok video category.

While the traditional awards ceremony was unable to take place, the winners were announced today at an online event that showcased the nominated films.

The awards ceremony was premiered on Youtube, where it is now available to view.

Winners in each of the competition categories received a €1,000 prize and runners-up received €500.

The judging panel included RTÉ Guide Movies Editor, Michael Doherty; a representative of St Patrick’s Mental Health Services’ Service User and Supporters Council (SUAS), Sean Fitzpatrick; Director of Services at St Patrick’s, Tom Maher; and Director of Communications and Advocacy at St Patrick’s, Tamara Nolan.

The top prize of €1,000 in the general category was awarded to Honor Lynch and her family for their film The Run, with Rachel Gregan picking up second place with her film Positive Mental Health.

The first-place winner of the secondary school category was St Louis Secondary School, Monaghan for their film Hidden Struggles and the €500 runner-up prize was secured by John the Baptist Community School, Limerick, with Mind Your Mind.

Both the winning and runner-up schools in the TikTok category are from Limerick, with John the Baptist Community School claiming the top prize with their entry, Let’s Talk About Mental Health, while Salesian secondary school claimed the runner-up prize for Tips to get Through Lockdown.

Tamara Nolan, Director of Communications and Advocacy at St Patrick’s, said: “We were delighted to receive such a high level of engagement this year, particularly from educators and young people, who, despite being faced with school closures and extraordinary challenges, have shown their commitment to prioritising mental health and wellbeing promotion, and to finding innovative ways to collaborate on film-making from their virtual classrooms.

“Social media platforms like TikTok have been growing their influence worldwide since the pandemic began, with people looking for new ways to come together and connect socially while staying physically apart.

“The response and creativity shown reflects the appetite that exists to use these online communities to connect, and to create positive, uplifting and educational content to share with our peers.”