Awards P4 - Unveiling the Impact of Student Awards in Creative Industries #ALTC2023

Discover the transformative power of student awards as we converse with a distinguished panel of educators gathered for the 2023 edition of Middlesex University's Annual Learning and Teaching conference. 

Promising to build confidence, generate connections, and encourage collaboration, these accolades are more than mere symbols of recognition - they are stepping stones to academic victory and beyond. Joining me are Dr James Graham, Vaishali Raj Sharma, Afroz Nawaf, Dalilah Kalla and Nancy Slonims, and each offer unique and compelling tales and insights.

Ever pondered the intersection of education, awards, and festivals? Tune in as we unveil how film, fashion and graphic design schools ingeniously incorporate these elements into their curriculum, providing students with unique experiences and opportunities. We'll delve into the stories behind partnerships with Warner Brothers Middle East and the winning formula behind Forbes' Best Media Center in MENA. 

In a broader context, we'll talk about the crucial role of authenticity in the creative industries, and how staying true to one’s creative self can prove to be that powerful catalyst for success. Ready to ignite your mind and feel inspired? Don't miss this enlightening journey through the world of student awards and authenticity.

Chapters

• 0:00 Student Awards
• 12:17 Film Education With Awards and Festivals
• 25:49 Authenticity in Creative Industries

Transcript

 Stephen King

Thank you very much for the entire MDX Henden team for inviting and  accepting this session, which I'm very excited to deliver. It's been many months in the planning. And I am also very honored to be joined with colleagues from across our footprint who have done some exceptional work in inspiring students to very high levels indeed. 

My name's Stephen King, and  I'm a senior lecturer here in the Dubai campus, in the media school.  And because it's awards. I'm just gonna  I'm very much honored and humbled to have received the One Middlesex award a couple of years ago for outstanding contribution to putting students first.  One of the criteria for that was the awards that our students have won in the advertising and PR function. 

We're not the only program that wins awards.  We see them across the board in all different departments, but the four people that I've got gathered here as well with. With James.  Are just examples  of different  value that the awards bring to the students. And that's what we're trying to explore above and beyond simple posts on social media sites, but into areas such as developing confidence.  Building  connections  Developing community and also  creating collaboration. And the idea is that we're going to see how the awards fit all those four pillars. And if we can help establish them more firmly within our curriculum.

To kick this off,  I want to introduce the deputy Dean for student success,  so thank you. Thank you, Dr. James.


James Graham

This matter of student success is something I'm  really very invested in it. And in fact  The Genesis of this session actually started from when I took it on myself in my role to actually    repost and publicize some of the successes we've had in our faculty. Using LinkedIn and whatever reach I have or limited reach, I have there to do that. And so that sparked a conversation with Steve actually, about the role of awards and how we think about student success.

And Steve in subsequent work  has  reflected on this. And I think he quite rightly noted how this kind of work I've been doing is something of a cheerleader. So basically we can scrap my job title or my job description.  Really, I think of myself as a cheerleader. I think that's a good way of describing it. 

What that means  is I think everyone understands that a big part of student awards  is the publicity. And it's the halo effect of  students winning the awards.  The intrinsic benefits of that for them, which will be spoken about in due course  all of the things to do with the social capital, the confidence.     But also the reputational, both of the individual students, the course, the institution, these are all really important things, which we're sure colleagues will touch on.

But more broadly, I would really welcome and    I hope this conversation is going to kickstart is thinking about    some of the more intrinsic aspects of when we integrate awards into curriculum. What does that do for enhancing employability and academic success for the whole student cohort?    Because ultimately it's only individuals or groups that win awards or a group that get s  nominated. But clearly there are benefits that    permeate the wider cohort. And I think everyone in this room, who's going to be talking about this knows this to be true.

So what I'm hoping is that this discussion we're going to share with these great examples and discuss best practices and how you integrate it. What I would welcome is thinking about  how do we understand? And ideally how    if possible, how can we evaluate these, the full kind of range of benefits, both  the reputational benefits,  the individual benefits, but also the benefits to a cohort. So  that's what I'm here and interested in. And that's enough for me. So back to you, Steve.

Thank you.

Stephen King

Brilliant. Thank you. Thank you, Jim.

Okay, so next up or first up, we have  Dalilah from our Mauritius campus, Dalilah is joining us as the head of co-curricular sports service.  Before taking up that role.  She was a student advisor for four years and she thrives on putting students first to ensure a high quality service is provided. And the objective is to enhance the experience for everyone through their journey. 

Dalilah Kalla

Thank you, Stephen. And  hello everyone.  We encourage students to participate in industry awards. We organize a "Bigger Idea Competition" as well on campus. These are all supported by the industry here.   

Stephen King

Wonderful. Thank you.  Now we have Vaishali now from our fashion squad. Vaishali has a master' s in garment, manufacturing and technology from New Delhi and the master's in education from the London Center of Fashion Studies in the UK.

Vaishali Raj Sharma

Thank you, Steve. It's a topic I would love to talk about till the cows come home. But I'll try and keep it brief because I'm very passionate and proud at the achievements that our young students have done. So my name is Vaishali I had the fashion program here leading the BA Honours fashion design degree at Middlesex Dubai.

We really have participated in a lot of events, despite being a very young and a nascent department. And we have really had the pleasure and privilege of  riding the wave that this region has recently  come into because  the region and the government has started putting a lot of importance to the creative economies. And we are  right time, right place in some ways, if I can say so we've taken part in a lot of events, as many as we could possibly  fit into in terms of the terms and conditions of every event in terms of what resonates with the curriculum that we teach, et cetera.

We've had immense pride in the first ever, what we call the "Icon Show" other parts of the world, it may be called the exit show or the degree show. But we've had fantastic responses from the community and the collaborators around there were so many people in that audience. We're taking notice and taking notes. I have to say that it was a really nice push for our young graduates into the network that we have  created in the short three years.

We have been repeat award winners in several competitions around in the region and the list is continuing to grow. If I may not sound like a show off. But I'd like to say that. Yeah, it has been quite an excellent    push into the deep and we're happy that the swimming, well thank you.

Stephen King

Thank you much for Vaishali.   I'm going to now just put the spotlight on to Nancy.  So Nancy is a head of programs for BA illustration in London.

Nancy Slonims

Yes, hi there!    The two sides we're going to see represent the two aspects of what is relevant to this discussion today. One is knowledge transfer projects, and the other is creative  industrial competitions. And then  I have actually written something about how we embed these activities into our programme.

 I was asked why and how BA. Illustration embeds knowledge transfer and live projects and competitions  and professional practice into the program. So I think the first thing to say is that part of the ethos of the course is to introduce students to the breadth of opportunity within the creative industries. To encourage a passion and an excitement for their  chosen career. And crucially to emulate the creative environment.  That's preparing students for employment.

We do this by creating a lively learning environment. All three years and the MA for children's books and graphic novels work in the same space throughout the week, enabling peer learning and valuable crossover of specialist staff expertise. Generally the staff teach on the tutorial basis rather than lecture or seminar, engaging the students in that individual spaces as they work.

The students really appreciate this creative environment and feel encouraged to display and look at each other's work as part of the learning experience.  And this has been substantiated by 100% NSS results over a number of years. And NSS student comments.  Secondly, by encouraging students to enter competitions. To see them as opportunities to gain access to future employers and that by participating actively learning,  other than feeling intimidated and excluded, then they also gain more creative confidence.

For us winning is not the goal. Although great when it happens it is is far more important for students to feel that they can be an active part of the creative industry. Students are encouraged to participate in live projects and competitions at every level. And then we enter personal work into national and international competitions and book fairs. 

One third year chose to enter the "Secret Story Draw Awards" competition, which is aimed at helping BAME students to enter the animation and illustration industry. She won best in her category for "Character Design" and is an overall winner across all categories.

As a result, she has a paid internship with major UK animation studios.

The current first year have been creating content for the theatre company "Chicken Shed". The students create a series of animations for this company to advertise the upcoming show stream. Which will be part of the British summertime festival in Hyde park. And as this project was part of an animation workshop, this work is graded.

Competitions are not embedded into the curriculum the first year. However, they all participate in a set project in illustration . This work is marked.

 All secondary students have the opportunity to enter the McMillan children's book competition as part of the curriculum. They also have the option to produce alternative narrative format such as a graphic novel. And not enter the competition itself.

 Alongside entering live briefs and competitions personally, all third years must enter an industry led competition in the second semester.  They are provided with several competitions to choose from, as well, ranging from graphic novels,  children's books, animation and design.  The required criteria is a specific brief with established design or illustrative outcomes. Irrespective of the competition deadline, all work must be presented by assessment in May. The work is graded whether it was entered in a competition or not?

Over the years students have one 17 D&AD Awards, six association illustration awards including the worldwide "new talent award". We've had a winner of the international prestigious, professionally, highly renowned, Cape Observer graphic novel competition. Three "Creative Conscience" awards. Six McMillan children's books awards. With one graduate publishing over five books as a result.

Our student success has enabled the course to gain a strong reputation in the industry alongside providing the students with an excellent start to to their careers.

Stephen King

I will now quickly move on to Afroz.  He's our creative director, producer, educator, senior fellow of the HEA as well.  He's a worldwide evangelist for Black Magic Design, and he's also managed to bring in  projects with the other Stephen King.  Afroz, I pass it onto you.

Afroz Nawaf

Thank you, Steve. We've just celebrated our 10th year anniversary of filmmaking in the middle east.  I'll  walk you through my process of how I've incorporated and integrated. Festivals and awards in particular as part of course, integrations.

I just want to walk you through our recipe because this is something   I speak with full pride because a lot of people, a lot of  film schools in the region, or possibly outside too. They teach film.  But the way we teach film is very much  by incorporating elements from the field.

All of us in the department, we all come from the field and we actively take part as well. I'm planning my current feature film right now. So students get  a unique experience here  and we're currently in the process of completely transforming the learning experience  working together with the media landscape.

Real-world integration is definitely our ethos here because everything that we teach in the department is very much in tune with the industry and the market.

 We've absolutely incorporated festivals and award participations    across all our year one, two and three  program.  One of the biggest, I think our first ever,  major, partnership was with the actual, the Stephen King "number one" - the author. Where we actually got our students to produce a short film based off of the script that he's written.

We have also won the Forbes best media center award in 2019. And we're the only film school in the region  with the partnership with Warner Brothers in the Middle East, and our students have worked on campaigns like Aquaman, Batman, Jurassic World,  Wonder Woman, et cetera. And in fact  we had the worldwide vice president of Warner Brothers presenting our students campaign, they had created during the  MENA conference here in Dubai. 

One of the key aspects that we make them go through is to select their festival distribution strategy, during the pitch stage. So they're able to select where they want to distribute the films. And one of our major  wins was at the Hong Kong Academy Film Festival, where our student won a grant of $8,000 and they flew her in  and  got the chance to present to the academy board.

The way we've structured the film program here as we call it MDX Studios, because we're emulating the entire strategy    as in  widely taken in industry, and we're the only film school with a hundred plus official worldwide selections  and awards across the region. And we've been winning awards since 2017. All the way to the recent films that we showed.

 It is very important for us  to win awards because it's a tangible incentive for them to excel and go beyond the basic requirements of the classroom experience in itself.  And we reinforce the skillset  through participations and we're of course    we are currently in the last and final phase of planning our own international film festival.

And through these  opportunities, we've also increased our reach      by partnering up with festivals across the world and hence  creating more opportunities for the students, not just within the region.  Taking over that boundary of regional limitations and where they're able to collaborate and take their journey  a step forward. 

Stephen King

That's wonderful.  I'm going to come back to Delilah.  It's not just the trophies or the dresses. There's real value in winning these awards. Correct. 

Dalilah Kalla

Yes. Yes, of course. There's real value in it.  The good example is from the MDXcellerator whereby the winner received some funds to start her own business.  And I can see probably that she is a registered business now in Mauritius. And is continuing to grow in her own industry is being quite successful.

Stephen King

Excellent. Thank you.   Should awards be structured into the curriculum ?

Vaishali

Yes, Steve. We do  want to structure it into the curriculum because the way we win awards is by presenting that garment that goes up on that ramp. And is catwalked and making that garment takes time for students. And if it is integrated into their      curriculum, it makes it easier for them to have outcomes that they can show off and showcase in addition to getting their grades for the various modules.

So there is  no two ways really about how we must integrate awards into our curriculum. It prevents  excessive overload. Otherwise, they have to create separate things for the catwalks for competitions. So we very quietly and slowly  try and see if we  meet the terms and conditions that the same outcome can then be showcased at various  competitions and bring back some awards, some visibility, a lot of notice and getting      taken notice off as a department that is growing and producing emerging talent. 

Stephen  King

Wonderful. I'm going to come back to you in a second, but Afroz  is determined to jump in.

Afroz

The other main important aspect is also portfolio. Building their portfolio in such a way, because it really sets them apart from the competition or the people that they face in the industry for various jobs. I would say  it's directly related to the knowledge, the skills and the competencies emphasized in the curriculum. This is very much deeply rooting it into the way we teach and enhance the quality of the program.

Stephen King

do awards support  diversity and inclusion?

Vaishali

Yes, we do stand out if we do have a very diverse set of participants in it. And if we do any collaborative and group entries, it definitely makes a difference on how  design ethos comes together because designers and creatives are Maverick people, all of them want to have their own ideas. So in order for us to come up with a unified outcome itself is a big feat. And then to showcase that on a platform. Becomes  a double whammy on  the achievements of the students have achieved. So diversity definitely helps with  giving new dimensions to any design.

Stephen King

How have the awards helped you in getting these knowledge transfer projects? If at all?

Nancy

So I think that definitely has helped. I think  the Bishop's Stortford project,  the museum approached us   they actually approached, I think about four different universities  because they didn't know what to do with the archives that have been found. These police records,  which was  genuinely fascinating.

 I think we were the only university that actually  really actively engaged in participating. And I was quite excited by the challenge.  And we came up with the idea of doing the graphic novel.  Taking apart each of the individual people who have been arrested, so that in itself has  was quite an interesting starting point.

I think the students were well prepared to do it because they were used to working externally as well as internally.  It's completely embedded in our program that we're. Throwing stuff outwards as well as inwards.  Yeah. It helped a lot.

Stephen King

Good.  Afroz, I'm going to come back in the advertising industry. We have the awards because  it  justifies the creative talent in our advertising agency, but in film  it's life or death. You have to win an award, right?

Afroz

The idea  of winning awards is not just about the award. It creates a unique cascading effect  in terms  of collaborating as well, because when you participate in an international competition, you're able to meet more like-minded people and increasing your diversity, where they're able to think, their concepts apply their unique ideas in a collaborative environment. Where it allows them to take their own talent and analyze it in such a way to take it to the next step. It's. I would say    it is  The easiest way t o increase    your understanding of the  the industry in itself and  it's basically peer to peer learning.

The beauty of it is  it's never forced. The one thing that I've noticed is that,  and take pride in the fact because, the very much creating good product. It's never in their mind that I'm creating this product for a competition or to win an award they are very much creating to get their work out there. So in its own unique way, it's a self sustaining system of    churning out  creative capabilities and increasing the way they approach their work as well. These students have got  many ideas that they want to put out there  and these platforms really allow them to get their stories out  and work with partners.

Stephen King

So I'm going to ask each of you what would you say to either a fellow faculty member or to a student to encourage them to put awards into their  teaching and learning  pedagogy.

Dalilah

I think in today's fast, fast industry,  awards have become a hallmark of acumen and I think even if in the curriculum you aim to provide a well rounded education, industry awards are more focused on specific skills and knowledge  that is required for a particular field. And I think  this is quite important. 

It can fill this  this gap between the skill that is taught in the classroom and those that are required to succeed in the industry.  I think as well that  students get a lot of skills out of it. And also  industrial awards can actually serve as a great motivator for students. That's what I personally think to not only excel in their studies, but also you in terms of their career, goal and dedication.  And I think they should be encouraged. 

Stephen King 

Brilliant. Thank you, and Vaishali?

Vaishali Raj

I just feel  that the taste of competition that students get when they go outside the four walls of this studio is absolutely unparrelled. And for that reason, I think we should encourage them. They do feel that they've got an A or an A* in their modules, but they realize they have not won some of those competitions with that top  first place award. And that is really a good reality check sometimes for them.

Apart from that, I think participating in awards, if I may play devil's advocate is also great to put on your CV. And it becomes a wonderful conversation starter when you go into an interview.  The interviewer is interested. What is this award? You have won, et cetera. So I think it's also from that point of view  very important.

For us as a nascent department, the biggest thing I would say for anybody  in this region. The creative economy is growing. If you participate in awards, you begin to get noticed as an important member contributor to the economy in the region. 

Stephen King

Okay, Nancy.

Nancy

I think I really encourage students to continue to enter competitions  once they've graduated. Because it can be very tough out there and suddenly everything goes very quiet. We're not doing projects and you can feel very left out of the industry. So I think if you continue to enter everything you can  then you're being seen by  the creative industries, you are keeping yourself alive and continuing to make projects, and improve on your portfolio. So I think they should be seen not as things that are frightening or intimidating.  I'm not good enough to enter.  I think if you can take the scariness out of entering competitions, then it becomes part of your way of, promoting yourself and keeping yourself lively and engaged. 

Stephen King

And Afroz, sorry for leaving you to the end.

Afroz

 I agree to  all the points made by my colleagues, but for me, I always tell my students: " fail more often". 'Because nothing teaches you more than your failures. Participating in things,  in competitions, it's about overcoming the fear of failure in itself. Even if you don't win, it's fine. The experience of applying it, it's valuable in terms of personal growth, building resilience, and of course learning from mistakes because that will contribute towards your success in the future.

Stephen King

That's brilliant. James, I'd like to just respectfully pass it onto you to close the session down.

James Graham

Thanks so much, Stephen. So in closing the session, I just want to thank Stephen for leading on this. Which is clearly a really excellent session. Thank you for bringing together such a great range of speakers from across our campuses. Demonstrating where industry awards are embedded in curriculum and demonstrably deliver fantastic academic success to a wide population. 

Very briefly. I think we can sum this up. And I think there's lessons for the wider university. Arts and creative industries, this is essential work.  That's why we're sharing it. That's what we're learning. That's what we're trying to do better. But there's stuff to be learned more widely and let's call these the three A's. 

Authenticity.  When you're working on these life, breaths, everything about it is authentic from the skills you developed, working with others. To the materials that  you're producing.  And there are all kinds of advantages, including in relation to AI. There.  

This gives you  access to the industries you need to go into and access to student futures, the potential futures. You don't get that unless you have this authenticity. 

And that finally gives you. The advantage that you need as a student to achieve student success.  

Thank you so much, everyone.