Date: Friday July 6, 2018 at 8:33am
Thursday 5th
July 2018: The inaugural intake of
service leavers and veterans to graduate from the Forces Media Academy have
been congratulated by The Duke of York at a graduation ceremony earlier today.
The Forces Media Academy
offers service veterans the opportunity to study for a Higher National
Certificate qualification in Creative Media Production, to gain access to an
industry where historically people with a military background have been
under-represented.
The Services Sound &Vision Corporation (SSVC) – of which HRH has been Patron since 2003 –
established the Academy last year at its headquarters in Buckinghamshire, which
was opened by The Duke in October 2017.
SSVC also runs the Forces Network,
which consists of a number of TV, radio and digital media and broadcasting
services, so all of the students had the opportunity to work in a live media
environment during the academic year.
Former Royal Marine bandswoman,
Poppy Pawsey, is one of the graduates to complete the 10-month Creative Media
Production course. Remarkably, she recently picked up a global radio award in
New York for co-producing I Am Unconquered, a documentary about Invictus
Games athletes which was broadcast on Forces Radio BFBS.
Poppy said: “I have really enjoyed
working on radio and film documentaries – telling a story about something I am
passionate about and delivering it with emotion and heart is very important to me.
“This course has opened my
eyes to another world, it has given me the foundation skills in all aspects of
media and I am looking forward to exploring them more.”
The FMA’s principal charity partner, The Royal British Legion, supported all
of the students with an £18,000 bursary towards living costs, and the course
was also free, thanks to funding from the Chancellor’s LIBOR Fund. Both the
bursary and funding have been offered to the next intake of students who will
start at the Academy in September this year.
CEO of SSVC, Simon Bucks,
said: “These veterans took a completely new direction as they transitioned
from service life to study alongside our media professionals here at SSVC. Their
successes during this course demonstrate how the skills they have learnt in
their military careers can be transferred into very creative fields such as
digital, TV and radio production. I wish them all the very best in their new
careers.”
For more information about
applying for the Forces Media Academy, go online to www.forcesacademy.com. Applications for the 2019/2020 course
will open on 1st September 2018 and close on 31st of January 2019.