Students put in good Shift to win film award

A NUMBER of students in north county Dublin were amongst the winners in a competition that challenged them to explore the theme of

‘drinking in a home environment’.

The

‘Shifts’, which comprised Eoin Ronayne, Colm Reid, Rob O’Hanrahan, Eolann Kitteringham and David Courtney – all from Skerries, and studying in DCU, UCD and St Patrick’s College – won the People’s Choice award in the film category of the DARE2BDRINKAWARE competition. Their entry was titled

‘Pre-Drink? Precaution’.

Eoghan McQuinn (24), from Swords, who is a Film and TV Production student at IADT, also attended the gala awards ceremony, where he was shortlisted for his film,

‘Dust’.

The students rubbed shoulders with well-known personalities from the worlds of film, TV and multimedia at the ceremony.

Fionnuala Sheehan, chief executive of drinkaware.ie, congratulated the team members of

‘Shifts’ and Eoghan McQuinn on their achievements.

According to Ms Sheehan, their film and multimedia projects – and the other shortlisted entries – highlighted how students can use new technologies and social media in innovative and thought-provoking ways to comment on young people’s attitudes to drinking.

Ms Sheehan explained why

‘drinking in a home environment’ had been chosen as the theme for this year’s competition.

“We wanted to choose a theme that really resonated with students, and that offered them plenty of scope to be innovative and creative,

? she said.

“We are used to seeing alcohol awareness campaigns that revolve around goings-on in pubs or nightclubs.

“But home drinking now constitutes more than 50 per cent of alcohol consumption in Ireland – up from 30 per cent a few years ago – so it’s important to address this phenomenon too.

?

Winning and nominated films and multimedia projects from this year’s competition can be viewed at www.DARE2BDRINKAWARE.ie.