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A third-year Broadcasting student has scooped a £1000 Research and Development award to kick-start his idea for a student-led media agency.

Duncan Brown won the cash as part of his Creative Enterprise Award, an initiative run by Ravensbourne’s in-house media production unit RaveMedia within the College’s Enterprise and Innovation Centre, which works closely with both students and graduates to help them launch their careers successfully.

Duncan’s idea intends to exploit a gap in the market – connecting studying Broadcast students with paid professional work opportunities in the industry. His employment agency, Mediabugs, will put industry professionals needing freelances for junior and assistant jobs in the media in touch with skilled students keen to work on real projects.

“Second and Third Year students are beginning to build up a portfolio and a showreel,” says Duncan. “At the moment, they’re doing a lot of this work outside of their studies at College, over the holidays or weekends. They have to spend time hunting for suitable freelance jobs, and these are sometimes badly paid. Mediabugs will be able to help, matching the right student to the right job. It will be at the student’s discretion how much of their free time they work, and they will know they’ll get the best rate possible for the job. And it’ll be better than working in a pub!”

The idea behind the Creative Enterprise Awards, says RaveMedia’s Executive Producer Hilary Chadwick, is to allow students to test the feasibility of creatively interesting and commercially viable ideas, with the opportunity to call on the expertise of staff across the College.

“Mediabugs has a lot of connections with RaveMedia’s work, which frequently employs students, enabling them to gain practical experience of working on commercial projects.” continues Hilary. Students also gain a lot of valuable experience at Rave on Air, the College’s annual graduate showcase for Broadcasting students, which is attended by industry professionals from companies such as the BBC, Channel 4, and Sky. “Duncan’s idea crosses a variety of disciplines. He did a lot of work on his proposal on his own, creating the framework for Mediabugs, before he even won the award - he thought about it in a very concentrated and practical way.”

The Creative Enterprise Awards were launched in 2005. A previous winner of the award was Brice Lainé, who made a documentary film on rural development in Togo, which has since gained him national press coverage and accolades at several international film festivals. The awards are not just open to students with media ideas, but to candidates with ideas from all creative disciplines across the whole college. RaveMedia particularly wants to encourage students from different disciplines to work together and collaborate on new enterprise solutions, with the potential for an even higher level of award.

“The awards aren’t just for current students, either,” adds Hilary. “Graduates can apply up to two years after they leave. Perhaps once Mediabugs is fully developed, Duncan can apply for the next stage of the Creative Enterprise Awards, and win up to £5,000 to take the project even further!”

For more information on RaveMedia’s Creative Enterprise Awards, visit www.rave.ac.uk/business/ravemedia.htm or email Hilary Chadwick in the Enterprise and Innovation Centre h.chadwick@rave.ac.uk


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