Animation students win awards at Solent University Summer Show screening

An audience of students, families and industry alumni gathered to watch screenings of third-year films. Rio Bardouille took home the Audience Choice Award, voted for by the audience on the night, while Zacharie Yule won the Best Film award as judged by alumni working in the animation industry.

Rio's film drew on the philosophical concept of thalassophobia, a fear of the deep sea, weaving together themes of the unknown and the spirit of adventure.

"Everyone is quite afraid of deep waters and what could lie below," Rio explains. "My animation focuses heavily on the monster aspect and the adventure side of it too. I seemed to get a lot of attention for my animation and its style, which I'm very happy about."

For Zacharie, whose film told the story of a dog and a fox who fall in love by the river only to be separated by tragedy, the evening was one to savour.

"It feels absolutely surreal in the best way possible," they said. "I am so happy to see not only mine, but my fellow course mates' work up on the big screen, and it's just the perfect way to wrap up this year."   

The screening was organised by the animation team at Solent, and course leader Rob Vaughan reflected on what makes the event so special:

"We do the Audience Choice Award, and everybody from the audience gets to vote on their favourite film. It's just lovely to see other people's perspectives of the work that's been produced."

Both students reflected positively on their time at Solent, highlighting the relationships they built throughout their studies. Rio said: "My highlight has definitely been the students and my lecturers. They have helped me all the way through. I'm very grateful for each and every one of them."

Zacharie added: “I've met some of my best friends through Solent. Our course leader, Rob, and my tutors have also been absolutely amazing.”

Looking ahead, Rio is considering a move into marketing, seeing it as a field where animation skills remain highly relevant and opportunities are more widely available. Zacharie hopes to work on music videos and short films with smaller independent animation studios.

The BA (Hons) Animation programme at Solent supports students to develop creative, technical, and critical skills across multiple production pipelines, including traditional 2D hand-drawn animation, digital 2D workflows, stop-motion, and 3D performance.

The curriculum reflects real industry practices, supported by active practitioners, live briefs, and regular formative sessions that mirror professional studio environments.

Find out more about BA (Hons) Animation at Solent University.