An animated story about a girl with a pasty for a head has beaten 28,000 entries to win an international award for two Falmouth students.
Using stop motion animation effects, the two Falmouth students created the three-minute short Pasty Child follows the growing pains of a young girl with and her struggle within the confines of a pasty shop.
Praised by judges as, “dark yet warm and sympathetic”, the animation was made using stop motion effects and techniques reminiscent of Aardman Animations’ Wallace and Gromit films.
At the inaugural GuardianWitness awards, hosted by comedian David Mitchell, the two animation degree students Andy Luck and George Tymvios were presented with the trophy for best original short film.
The film-makers were also named as overall winners in the EE contributor of the year category.
Clare Margetson, Guardian network editor and judging panel chair, said: “The overall winner demonstrates a fantastically exciting way of using GuardianWitness.
“This was about creativity rather than journalism. And that's something we feel strongly about.”
“The winner combined ingenious tech, a singular aesthetic, perfect characterisation, a brilliant compressed narrative and pitch-black humour.
“Its 180 seconds stay with you as long as many full-length movies,” continued Margetson.
With 28,000 entries from across all continents including Antarctica, competition was fierce.
Judges were drawn from journalism, film, photography, science and food, and included Guardian News & Media's director of digital strategy Wolfgang Blau, vice-president of CNN International Europe, Middle East and Africa Deborah Rayner and acclaimed British film-maker Andrea Arnold.
Derek Hayes, course coordinator for the animation and visual effects degree, congratulated the Pasty Child team, saying: “As a final year major project, the animation was designed to showcase the students’ achievements.
“To have won an international award for it demonstrates the extent of their skills and is a real credit to their professionalism. I have no doubt that we’ll see exciting things from all of the Pasty Child team – a truly talented bunch.”
Pasty Child was co-directed by Mr Luck and Mr Tymvios. The story was written and devised by Sasha Lawrence. Emily Stone designed costumes and settings.
The film also collected a Royal Television Society student award for Devon & Cornwall in 2012.
The inaugural GuardianWitness awards celebrated the first year for the newspaper’s user-generate
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Pasty Child
Pasty Child
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”