Meath students in running for digital film award

Two Meath students have been shortlisted for awards in a prestigious student film competition. James Fox (22) from Laytown and Paul Tully (24) from Kells are shortlisted for prizes in the Dare2Bdrinkaware digital film competition, organised by the Digital Hub Development Agency and sponsored by drinkaware.ie. James Fox, who is a student at the National College of Ireland, is a member of the Johnny and Ivars team, which produced the short film 'So What Happened Last Night?', examining young people's destructive drinking habits. The other members of his team are Dubliners Madonna McNamee and Johnny Cullen and Ivars Burtneiks from Kilkenny, all of whom are students at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Dun Laoghaire. Athlone Institute of Technology student, Paul Tully, is a member of the Lynch Productions Team, which produced the short film 'A Serious Mix Up' about the poor decisions made by young people when it comes to drinking. His team-mates are Anne-Marie Lynch, Jamie Keegan, Veronica McQuaid, Barry Beirne, Declan Coyle and Sarah Watts, all of whom attend Athlone Institute of Technology. The 10 shortlisted teams for this year's Dare2Bdrinkaware competition were chosen from among more than 50 applications and will now go forward with their films to be judged by a prestigious panel. Now in its third year, the competition for third-level students is aimed at highlighting young people's attitudes to alcohol. "The shortlisted films were chosen for their originality and high quality," said Fionnuala Sheehan, chief executive of drinkaware.ie. "This year, the teams have really made an effort to highlight young people's attitudes to alcohol in an innovative and different way." The winning films will be unveiled at an awards ceremony tomorrow (Thursday) night, and the shortlisted teams are in the running to win up to €5,000 in prize money. They will also get the chance to meet one of Ireland's most successful film directors, Dearbhla Walsh. Ms Walsh, who recently won an Emmy Award for directing the television series 'Little Dorrit', will present the top prize and make a keynote speech at the ceremony. The winning films will be announced at a gala awards ceremony in The Digital Hub in Dublin on Thursday. All films - including 'So What Happened Last Night?' and 'A Serious Mix Up' - are currently available to view at www.dare2bdrinkaware.ie, and members of the public can vote for their favourite film on this website. The winning film in the 'Online Public Vote' category will win €1,000.