Year 10 GCSE Media student, Bethan Arnold, was invited to attend an awards ceremony at USW Cardiff campus on June 8th after entering their first ever game art design competition for schools. Pupils in Bethan’s age category were asked to design a game character for a new game entitled “MyTeacher is a…..” based in a school where something strange has happened.  So many creative possibilities! Once she had decided on her theme, Bethan spent several hours producing sketches, drawings and notes to express her ideas, combining her imaginative, creative skills with what she had learned in GCSE Media Studies about character representations in video games. 

The USW Cardiff campus boasts a wide variety of creative and media-based courses from Games and Design to Fashion and Film, so it was a fantastic opportunity for Bethan to have a taster of what’s on offer for any students thinking of a career in the creative industries.  After a warm welcome to the campus (and a free lunch!), the awards ceremony took place and the prize-winner in each category saw their design transformed into a 3D clay model by one of USW’s current game art design students. Bethan, accompanied by Ms Hood and Morgan Ellis, then had a tour of the campus including its music production studios green-screen technology suite and amazing examples of USW graduates' creations on every wall. So many former students had gone on to do exciting and prestigious things with their degrees - including Sean from Caerphilly who worked as a Stop Motion Animator on the Oscar-nominated A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon!

Leaving with a certificate in one hand and a goody bag in the other, Bethan may not have won the competition in its first year, but had enjoyed a rewarding day out for all her hard work; and is definitely determined to take part again next year!