How do you use the internet in a positive way? This was the brief given for the seventh annual Childnet Film Competition and the entries submitted didn’t disappoint.
After the difficult task of whittling down the entries to three finalists in each category, Childnet invited the schools in the final groups to attend the awards ceremony at the BFI in London. The young people were asked to share their film-making processes and discuss the challenges they faced along the way.
The panel of judges, including experts from the BBC, BBFC and the BFI had the difficult final decision of choosing the winners. They were pleased to announce the winning schools as Arundale Primary and Wren Academy.
The standard of entries this year was the one of the highest Childnet have ever seen. Arundale’s entry “Times have changed” stood out for its creative use of illustrations and the way the pupil’s team work shone through. The messages they shared about positivity online were very strong and encouraging, with lots of examples of positive internet use such as playing games, looking up news and online shopping.
Wren Academy’s entry “Hash and Tag” stood out for its amazing use of animation, and catchy song-writing. The film’s animator, Jude, had carefully crafted each character out of plasticine, and used stop-motion techniques to get them to dance and sing on screen. The online safety messages were delivered in a clear and fun way, encouraging everyone to be kind when commenting and not to ‘like’ hurtful or mean posts.
It was so inspiring to see the incredible talent of the all the young people involved, and how they are encouraging others to use the internet safely and positively. Watch the other finalists’ films here.
How do you use the internet in a positive way? Here are Childnet’s top tips to help you ‘Shine Online’:
- Be kind and respectful to others online: Comment in a positive way to support your friends, and don’t share on or ‘like’ any posts that might upset someone.
- Be an upstander not a bystander: You have the power to make the internet a better place, by reporting bad behaviour and blocking people who are using the internet to spread negativity.
- Think before you post: Consider the wider effect of the images and comments you share online. Are you posting something that could offend or upset someone? Instead, share something interesting, kind or thoughtful.
Have you been inspired? Keep an eye on the Childnet website for next year’s competition to be announced and sign up to receive our newsletter to be one of the first to know
