European election debate held at BU

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Prospective MEP candidates from seven political parties gathered to debate key topics in preparation for the upcoming European elections.

The hustings, hosted at Bournemouth University, was organised by students from BU’s Media School, who also filmed proceedings as a part of their coverage of the European elections.

Candidates were faced with pre-prepared questions, followed by audience responses to their comments during the Question Time-style debate, chaired by BU academic Dr Dan Jackson. At times the debate became heated as candidates from opposing sides positioned themselves with polarised thoughts on important political topics.

Topics discussed by the candidates included Britain’s future in Europe, Britain and Europe’s response to the situation in the Crimea and the immigration issues facing the UK.

Audience participation was excellent, with debate encouraged amongst the crowd; students, staff members and members of the public engaged in the debate with comments, and applause was offered for particularly strong points from the prospective MEPs.

Jay Risbridger, a prospective MEP candidate for the Liberal Democrat party, said after the event, “Its important [to have events such as this at universities] as students will become the future voters who will participate in the EU. I think this generation, more than any other, their jobs and future prosperity will depend on what goes on in the EU rather than what goes on in the UK government.”

Jay also offered a message to students who will be voting in next week’s European elections, saying, “Think about what you are going to be doing and where you are going to be working in the future and be mindful that you may not be working in the UK in the future but in the EU!”

Students from a number of Media School courses came together to deliver the debate. Television production student Edward Lawrence organised the event and said, “I’m a big fan of these political debate shows, which give audiences a platform to ask the questions that matter with politicians they are going to be voting for. I am proud that we have provided that platform and am proud of the students that covered the event, I think they are a credit to Bournemouth University.”

Douglas Tham, a student studying Politics and Media at BU, also helped to run the event on the night and added, “It really shows that students do care about politics and it’s great that we have the European elections coming up next week and we have students here asking questions, talking about it and learning about it.”

Other candidates to take part in the debate included current Conservative MEP Ashley Fox, UKIP prospective MEP Dr Julia Reid, Green Party Prospective MEP Mark Chivers, Labour Prospective MEP Clare Moody, An Independence from Europe Party Prospective MEP David Smith and English Democrats Prospective MEP Amanda Hopwood.

BU student team wins European-wide advertising competition

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A team from Bournemouth University (BU) has won a student advertising competition that received entries from across Europe.

The team – made up of four BU final year Advertising students – won Ad Venture, an annual competition organised by the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) for students across Europe.

The competition aims to give students a taste of life working for an advertising agency and the BU team, called Fellow, won for their campaign called Change The Story, based on a brief about European opportunities to target youth unemployment.

The team – made up of Laura Merchan McAulay, Florence Evans, Cameron Black and Marta Cownburn Cuesta – won the Ad Venture competition after presenting their campaign idea to leading comms professionals from across Europe at the edcom conference in Barcelona.

Two teams from BU made the three competition finalists – out of more than 90 entries from across Europe – and the winning team from Fellow has now won an all-expenses paid week at the Cannes Lions Festival.

Cameron Black, who was the Creative for Fellow, said: “We were extremely surprised and still can’t believe we’ve just won the Ad Venture competition.

“It felt incredible to be one of two teams representing Bournemouth on a European stage and to give our lecturers and the university the recognition it deserves.

“We can’t wait to go to Cannes and fully embrace an amazing opportunity for starting our careers after our incredible time at Bournemouth.”

This year was the first time that two teams from the same university have been named as finalists in the competition.

The competition made up an integral part of the final year Campaign Planning unit, and the other BU team, Daffadowndilly – made up of Rachel Banks, Darrell Pont, Georgina Robb and Joel Blackie – presented a campaign called Map Your Future.

It’s not the first time students from the Corporate Marketing Communications department at BU have had success in Ad Venture, with BU students winning the competition in 2011-12 and a number of finalist spots over the years.

Melanie Gray, Lecturer in Advertising and Marketing at BU, said: “Once again, stand out achievements like this show that the BU Advertising degree produces some of the best quality student work in the country.

“This is a fantastic reward for the extra time and effort that has gone into this final year unit – I am so pleased that all the additional elements which were put in place to really give the students a great experience on Campaign Planning have resulted in this.

“Of course the students are rightly over the moon and are now looking forward to their prize – a fully-expensed trip to the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.”

BU teams in final of European student advertising competition

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Two teams from Bournemouth University (BU) are in the final three for a student advertising competition that received entries from across Europe.

The teams – each made up of four BU final year BA (Hons) Advertising students – are through to the final of Ad Venture, an annual competition organised by the European Association of Communications Agencies (EACA) for students across Europe.

It is the first time two teams from the same university have been named as finalists in the competition, which aims to give students a taste of life working for an advertising agency.

Melanie Gray, Lecturer in Advertising and Marketing at BU, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for those students that have reached the finals of this European competition.

“It really does make all the teaching staff here on the BU Advertising degree immensely proud, both of the students and also for what it says about the degree course.

“Although entry into this competition is an integral part of their final year unit Campaign Planning, the quality of student entries from Bournemouth does reflect their entire education and experiences they have had over all their time here at BU.”

Teams are given a brief to create a campaign around, with this year’s challenge being to raise awareness of opportunities in Europe to support young people in gaining work experience.

The two finalist teams from BU – called Daffadowndilly and Fellow – will head to Barcelona on 9 May to present their campaigns to leading comms professionals from across Europe at the edcom conference.

The winners will receive a week at the Cannes Lions Festival in June, the biggest festival for those in the creative communications industries.

Daffadowndilly – made up of Rachel Banks, Darrell Pont, Georgina Robb and Joel Blackie – will be presenting their campaign called Map Your Future.

Daffadowndilly team photo

The Daffadowndilly team

Georgina, who acted as media planner for the group, said: “To get this far in the competition has been a very exciting but unexpected accomplishment. The team has worked so well together and enjoyed the challenge of a European brief.

“Presenting our idea to the judges in Barcelona will be a great opportunity that we are looking forward to. We’re also very proud for BU to be representing two out of the three final teams.”

Fellow – Laura Merchan McAulay, Florence Evans, Cameron Black and Marta Cownburn Cuesta – responded to the brief with a campaign called Change The Story.

Cameron, who was the Creative for the Fellow team, said they were “absolutely over the moon” to have reached the finals.

He added: “We feel incredibly proud to have the opportunity to represent BU at a European level and end our degree on a high.”

It’s not the first time students from the Corporate Marketing Communications department at BU have had success in Ad Venture, with BU students winning the competition in 2012 and a number of finalist spots over the years.

Melanie said:  “Once again, stand out achievements like this show that the BU Advertising degree produces some of the best quality student work in the country.”