Every year, we welcome a fresh cohort of intrepid young creatives to our campuses and every year, we are amazed by the incredible, groundbreaking work that they produce. It’s incredibly important to our community that we take time out before the summer break to celebrate these astounding young professionals and provide a platform for their work to be showcased and get the recognition it deserves.
We have two types of awards here at Access. Our local awards, judged by campus staff, celebrate the best that each campus has to offer, and the winners of local awards are put forward for our national awards, judged by a range of external, industry professional judges. This year’s national student award winners have just been announced, and we’re pleased to share a bit more about them. Keep reading to find out who won and read some inspiring student stories!
Introducing the judges
First up, this year’s judges, and we had an incredible bunch of people to support us in choosing our winners:
Music Judges
Simon Wilson & Ben Ward of Don’t Try Music, a music digital marketing and management agency that is truly at the cutting edge of the industry.
Simon has years of experience across artist and campaign management, digital marketing and live promotion, and Ben manages 2x Grammy-winning artist Adrian Bushby, as well as George Perks and Jordan Lawlor. The two co-founded Don’t Try, and we’re sure you’ll agree they’re ideally placed to help us select this year’s Music Award winners.
Games Judges
For our Games Awards, we got Beth Wain on board to help choose our winners. Beth has more than 15 years of experience in the games industry, and her career has spanned some of the most influential names in the sector, including Twitch, Disobey, Connecting the Dots, Amazon and more.
Beth’s diverse career path has instilled a varied and deep understanding of the creative and commercial sides of gaming, and she’s uniquely positioned to recognise standout talent and innovation in this year’s nominees.
Computing Judges
Our Computing judge this year is Tunde Olatunji, an entrepreneur focused on human-centred artificial intelligence.
Tunde is the co-founder and CEO of Arts Arkade, a physical/virtual platform that blends urban arts and sports, computational thinking and well-being to offer best-in-class programmes for young people. Tunde’s research interests include computational creativity, language models, human-computer interaction and interface design, and he holds expertise in Python, algorithm design, academic writing and more. The ideal person, then, to help us select our Computing Award winner.
Esports Judges
Harrison Gutteridge came on board this year to help us choose our Esports winner. Harrison has worked in partnerships at SPORTFIVE, a leading esports and gaming marketing agency, and before that was a part of GEEIQ, where he contributed to innovative projects in gaming and brand engagement.
Harrison played a key role in the development of Team Tommy, a gaming content creator initiative by Tommy Hilfiger that worked with eight creators from across the US, European and APAC regions, and represented diverse voices and communities within the global gaming scene.
Media Judges
Sam Wain was this year’s judge for our Media category, bringing a strong mix of creative and technical expertise and a strong passion for the media industry to the judging panel.
Sam has a long background in freelance cinematography and technical consulting for professional broadcast equipment, previously having worked at WEX as a professional video equipment specialist, before moving to Blackmagic Design, a leading name in video production technology, taking on the role of UK & Ireland Partner Manager.
The Achiever and The Legacy Personal Achievement Award Judges
Our final judge for this year’s awards, helping to decide the winner of our two personal achievement awards, ‘The Achiever’ and ‘The Legacy’, was Rick Whalley.
Rick is Sales Director for Studiocare, one of our trusted suppliers that equips our students and campuses with industry-standard technology. His expertise spans sound design, music production and audio editing and more. This well-rounded, unique perspective on industry makes him the perfect person to help us choose winners for our achievement awards.
This year’s winners
And now, without further ado, here are our incredible award winners!
First up, ‘The Excellence’
The Excellence – Music
Winner – Reece Bennett
Course and Campus – Level 4 Artist Development, Manchester
About Reece – Reece Bennett, AKA Bennettiscoming is a 25 year old singer/songwriter. With roots in R&B, his music can be described as emotive with a sultry, sensual tone, with honest, soul-baring lyrics. Sonically boundless, his experimentation in garage and house, as well as other genres adds deeper shades of experience to this up-and-coming Mancunian’s repertoire. This, combined with his strong presence, enables him to control his narrative, where true vulnerability emerges. Reece also won the local campus Artist Development award.
What the judges had to say – Reece has all the tools in the locker to become a successful recording and touring artist. His work was always submitted to such a high standard, including a great understanding of how to operate as an artist in the modern music industry.
On winning an Access Creative College award – Honestly, I didn’t expect to win. That’s probably a testament to my modesty, but it is really, really great to be seen. In an industry that so often likes to overlook (purposely or otherwise) creators like myself, POC, Queer and working class, it makes me feel incredibly validated and like confirmation that I’m undoubtedly on the right track. I really enjoyed my time at ACC. As a mature student, I was initially concerned with how I might fit in the college environment; however, my fears were quickly squashed by the great team of tutors and welcoming students. I enjoyed creating concepts and delving into my brand as I had already been building that for a little while. I think the assignments allowed me to have laser focus on how I want to be perceived and how I want my artistry to develop over my career. The guest lectures were invaluable, as well as my course leader James’ inspiring lessons.
Find Bennettiscoming on all popular streaming services and social media @bennettiscoming
The Excellence – Esports
Winner – John Packer
Course and Campus – Level 3 Esports, Norwich
About John – John is a second year on our Level 3 Esports course in Norwich, and won Best Esports Student at his local awards.
What the judges had to say – John has supported the esports team consistently, got peers involved and maintained a high level of work throughout. He had excellent attendance and a great work ethic. The judges think that this, coupled with the work he has produced, shows a promising future.
On winning an Access Creative College award – Winning both local and national awards is insane to me. It has been an eventful last 2 years, which I will most likely remember for the rest of my life fondly for all the crazy things we designed, made, and did. The main events or projects I enjoyed included being part of the Norwich Esports Overwatch ACES team, dealing with senior students, and later being a captain and dealing with junior students on my team. Another project I enjoyed was creating and hosting events for the college, such as the Marvel Rivals Tournament we hosted which was class-based and we had 4 different classes participate in the tournament. I enjoyed it mostly due to the work my class and I did to pull off each event, which helped me develop better teamworking skills and taught me how to better communicate to my team and event participants. I’d like to thank the tutors and support staff, including Grant Topping, John Gorden, Gavin Thomas and Jimmy Mavroudis, all of whom helped improve my work ethic and mental health by creating a cheerful environment.
The Excellence – Games
Winner – Maruwa ‘Ru’ Mukwewa
Course and Campus – Level 3 Games Art, Birmingham
About Ru – Ru is a second year on our Level 3 Games Art course, and won Best Games Student at her local awards. Ru has been an excellent student over the past 2 years, pushing herself in every area, 3D, concept art, and beyond. Ru invests time to improve and keeps striving for excellence. Her 3D character design concept is flawless and has been executed very well.
What the judges had to say – I think the style and skill shown in Ru’s work is really great! I could definitely see her working in indie games in the future.
The Excellence – Computing
Winner – Dylan Bullock
Course and Campus – T Level Software Development, Norwich
About Dylan – Dylan is a second year on our T Level Software Development course in Norwich, and won Best Software Student at his local awards. Dylan had near-perfect attendance, has been very receptive to feedback, and has always been willing to learn something new.
What the judges had to say – All the nominees this year have been impressive in what they have achieved so far in their lives. For me though, Dylan stands out because of his personal website, GitHub repo and LinkedIn profile. His website is well put together – not too cluttered, good use of fonts and colours. It demonstrates that he has an aesthetic sense and it gets across just enough of his personality – note he enjoys eating more than cooking! It is an impressively mature and professional site.
The Excellence – Media
Winner – Audrey (Blue) Smith and Mae Wells (joint winners)
Course and Campus – Level 3 Film, Videography and Photography, Bristol
About Blue and Mae – Blue and Mae are both AVA students (AVA is our in-house academy of visual arts in our Bristol centre, with strong links to employers in the Bristol area), and are in their second year of Film, Videography and Photography. They won Best Film/Video at the local Bristol awards.
Blue and Mae have created a successful video which was so liked by Circomedia College that is now being used in the marketing of the College. This is a huge achievement and shows the professionalism of their work and how it has been applied and used directly in the industry.
What the judges had to say – A solid understanding of filmmaking and documentary fundamentals, the pair have crafted an excellent, thought-provoking documentary.
The Achiever
Winner – Tyler Rayner
Course and Campus – Level 4 Artist Development, Bristol
About Tyler – Tyler has faced a lot of challenges this year with ongoing illnesses and being hospitalised. They have still managed to finish the year with a Distinction and have taken the time to help support their peers.
Tyler’s knowledge and thirst for developing has made them a fantastic learner and has resulted in them having the confidence to start up a new band, perform on stage at the end-of-year showcase. At the beginning of the Artist Development course, they were admitted to the hospital because they had non-epileptic seizures – they were going to defer but had 2 months left. Everyone at the campus was so supportive and helpful. She says they stood by her and made sure she got through it.
Tyler is part of a band called Disloyal, whose genre is metalcore. Tyler wants to shout out Jade Grundy, staff member, who was instrumental during her Artist Development course. They helped from an academic point of view, with coursework and were always there if needed.
Tyler’s main focus is on the band at the moment, with a lot of promotion planned to get them loads of gigs. Tyler is currently pursuing a side hustle of learning to mix & master music after Access. Tyler also won the ‘Yes I Can’ award at the local Bristol awards.
Find Disloyal on Instagram @disloyal.band
What the judges had to say – With personal illness, maintaining studies/work is very difficult, glad to see they’ve come through and achieved well.
The Legacy
Winner – Jason Golding
Course and Campus – Level 3 Music Production, Bristol
About Jason – Despite going through some difficult circumstances, Jason has pushed through and completed all of the work that was required. They are a carer and in spite of this challenge, they never gave up and showed a huge amount of grit and determination, still managing to get all assignments completed.
Jason has loved every second of Access and even had the incredible opportunity to work at Love Saves The Day on the artist liaison team and was interviewed by the BBC.
Jason also struggled with their mental health and says that Access gave them a space to release emotion through creativity. They’ve said it’s a privilege to not only win a local award, but also a national one too, especially after not being in education for 3 years prior to Year 10. In spite of this, they have still pushed through and gained their qualification. Jason also won the Unsung Hero award at the local Bristol awards.
Jason said: “Winning a local award was surprising enough, but to win a national one is an absolute privilege. It’s amazing to have my hard work recognised despite the adversities I’ve faced in the last two years.”
What the judges had to say – Jason has overcome some very difficult personal challenges while still maintaining a solid work ethic.
A message from us
A massive well done to all of this year’s Access Creative College national award winners. We’re immensely proud of every single winner and nominee this year. The competition was closer than ever, and choosing the winners has never been harder.
We hope you’ve enjoyed this glimpse at some of the incredible talent studying at our campuses. If you’d like to forge your path to a creative career, and maybe be in with a chance of winning an award yourself, there’s still time to apply for September 2025. Visit our website to secure your spot now!
