Alice Springs Charles Darwin University student Ronja Moss (pictured) has been awarded $5000 to develop an advertising campaign for a fashion bag designer after winning a national film competition in Melbourne.
The 25th 2007 Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) awards recognised excellence in more than 30 categories of film, television, animation and multimedia and are considered one of the most prestigious awards for future industry stars.
The awards celebrate the talents of media producers and teachers in Australia and New Zealand.
Hosted at the Regent Theatre, Melbourne on Friday October 19, the awards were open to the education and industry sectors, students, production companies, independent filmmakers, educational bodies and educational producers.
Ronja’s work was judged the best national entry for the secondary schools division.
Major sponsor and fashion bag designer Crumpler awarded Ronja $5000 to develop its next advertisement.
She was shocked when the award and funding was announced.
‘People told me I looked petrified but I was really wrapt about winning,’ she said.
Ronja was nominated by her CDU VET media lecturer Ronny Reinhard for her gutsy short film The Beast, exposing the repressed horrors of sexual abuse through the eyes of a victim’s sister, Kierra.
Her film misleads viewers into believing that Kierra is suffering from acute depression with the true reason behind her condition only revealed in the dying minutes.
Ronja completed the film when she undertook media studies at CDU as a Centralian Senior Secondary College student.
CDU VET media lecturer Ronny Reinhard said Ronja was an exceptional student.
‘Ronja took on a taboo subject in her work and delivered an exceptional film,’ he said.
Her next goal is to follow her passion for documentary-making overseas.
‘I’m keen to travel to the USA and even the Middle East and apply my skills to telling stories around the world,’ she said.
She is the second Alice Springs based CDU film maker to win the award after Tyronne Swift in 2005.