Back to VCAA Bulletin No. 49 - June 2019
VCE Season of Excellence
Top Screen People's Choice Award and Jury Prize winners announced
Top Screen 2019 has been a resounding success, with more than 4000 people sampling short films from 2018 VCE Media students. The People's Choice Award and Jury Prize were awarded to two outstanding comedies –
Paper Caper by Finn Hartnett (Scotch College) and
Leased by Madelaine Jamieson (Footscray City College), respectively.
The Top Screen People's Choice Award is awarded to the film that garners the highest number of audience votes across the 2019 season.
Paper Caper is a stylised heist comedy featuring a trio of students plotting to steal school exam papers. Its irreverence and cheeky performances captured a high level of audience engagement.
'It was pure delight to see
Paper Caper sharing the big screen with some truly awesome films for Top Screen,' said Finn.
'Nothing has delighted me more than seeing the film being enjoyed by so many people in the screenings.'
The Top Screen Jury Prize recognises outstanding filmmaking talent based on a range of criteria, including originality and conceptual development. This year's winner,
Leased, uses an accomplished animation style to skewer cultural stereotypes in hilarious fashion. The black comedy was selected by a panel that included award-winning filmmaker Claudia Sangiorgi Dalimore, ACMI film educator and writer Garry Westmore, and Editor of Metro magazine Adolfo Aranjuez.
Filmmaker Madelaine said she was grateful that her work could reach a wider audience in the festival. 'Being a part of Top Screen was a great experience and a rewarding opportunity.'
Both 2019 winners received a certificate from the VCAA and a prize pack that included subscriptions to
Metro and Screen Education magazines, a $150 selection of goodies from Third Drawer Down and a one-year ACMI membership.
Top Screen is part of the annual VCE Season of Excellence 2019, which also includes Top Arts at the NGV, Top Designs at Melbourne Museum and the Top Acts concert at the Melbourne Recital Centre.
Plain English Speaking Award 2019
Cree Oliveira
The 2019 Plain English Speaking Award (PESA) regional finals are now complete after a highly successful and fierce competition. Twenty-six finals took place across the state, giving students the opportunity to pit their skills, words and ideas against their peers and in front of experienced adjudicators and past champions. The top 28 students will now compete at the next level of competition, the PESA 2019 semifinals.
Each year, students aged 15–18 years from government, Catholic and independent schools are invited to deliver speeches on topics they have thoroughly researched and feel impassioned about. They are then given four minutes to prepare a three-minute impromptu speech on a surprise topic.
Several past PESA champions were welcomed back to the program to help adjudicate this year, including Shahani Munaff and Cree Oliveira. Shahani, who is currently studying psychology at the University of Melbourne, was a PESA State Finalist in 2017. Cree, who was the runner-up in the 2017 State Final, is currently studying arts and law at Monash University. 'PESA was incredibly valuable in strengthening my skills in speaking conversationally and persuasively. Being involved really made me be clear and prioritise my thinking,' she said.
The PESA 2019 semifinals will take place on Thursday 20 and Friday 21 June 2019. Six competitors will go through to the State Final, to be held on Friday 26 July 2019 at the Village Roadshow Theatrette at State Library Victoria.
Shahani Munaff
To book your seat at the semifinals, contact the Student Events team:
vcaa.events@edumail.vic.gov.au. Bookings for the State Final are via
State Library Victoria.
Further information about PESA is available on the
VCAA website.