Students make shortlist in drink awareness competition
Dublin People 06 Apr 2012
THREE Southside students have been shortlisted in a prestigious national student film and
multimedia competition.
Organised by drinkaware.ie with the support of the
Digital Hub, dare2bdrinkaware.ie – now in its fifth year – is a competition for
third-level students which challenges them to explore the relationship between
Irish culture and drinking through a film or multimedia project.
The theme for the 2012 competition is
‘Drinking in a
home environment’.
Eleven film and multimedia projects produced by
students from throughout Ireland have been shortlisted for the 2012
competition, including:
‘Booze Tracker’, by 23-year-old Paul Murphy, from
Blackrock, who is studying Creative Multimedia at LIT, Clonmel; and film entry,
‘The Waiting Room’, by 22-year-old Robyn Lakes, from Dundrum, and 23-year-old
Grace Mulvey, from Rathfarnham, who are both Creative Digital Media students at
Tallaght IT.
‘Booze Tracker’ is a smartphone application that
allows the user to set their own drinking limit. It logs each drink consumed,
issuing a warning when the user has reached their quota for the night, while
‘The Waiting Room’ serves as a stark reminder of the devastating consequences
of reckless alcohol consumption when a group of friends find themselves waiting
for their ticket to the afterlife.
Speaking at the shortlisting event, Fionnuala Sheehan,
Chief Executive of drinkaware.ie, congratulated Paul, Robyn and Grace on their
success, and spoke about how the shortlisted entries show a more realistic side
to drinking than that portrayed on so-called
‘reality’ TV.
“Reality TV can leave young people with the mistaken
impression that excessive alcohol consumption in the home is normal, is without
negative consequences, and can even lead to rewards,
? she said.
“My fear is
that because of the prevalence of scenes of excessive drinking and drunkenness
on reality TV programmes viewers are becoming desensitised.
“Such programmes sometimes glorify and normalise
excessive levels of home drinking, rather than portraying a truly realistic
stance. The reality is that most Irish
people are capable of enjoying a few drinks in their homes without going
overboard.
?
She added:
“This year’s shortlisted entries highlight
the side of Ireland’s drinking culture that reality TV shows forget to mention
– the cost of heavy drinking for your health, your family and your future.
?
The shortlisted entries will now go forward for
judging by a panel of prestigious film and multimedia industry insiders,
including Miriam Allen, Managing Director of the Galway Film Fleadh; blogger
Darragh Doyle; Gavin Burke, presenter of
‘Cinerama’ on Phantom 105.2; Ciarán
Norris, Head of Digital with Mindshare; and Scott Ahearn, Welfare Officer with
the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).
The judges will award
?¬1,000 prizes to the best film
and multimedia entries, and
?¬500 prizes to the runners-up in each category.
As well as the prizes awarded by the judging panel,
one film and one multimedia entry will win special
‘public vote’ prizes. All
shortlisted entries are available to view online, and members of the public can
vote for their favourite entries up until 5pm on Wednesday, 18th April. For further information – and to cast your
vote for your favourite entry – log on to: www.DARE2BDRINKAWARE.ie.
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