Thursday 25 September 2008
6pm – The first guests begin to arrive at the glamorous British
Library building in central London. Young people from around the UK
have travelled from as far as Glasgow and Belfast to find out
whether they have won a prize in the UK’s only language and film
competition. The dress code was ‘Dress to impress’, and there are
some very stylish outfits on display at the pre-ceremony drinks
reception.
6.30pm - The guests file into the auditorium and take their
seats facing the stage and cinema screen. The lights dim as CILT’s
Helen Groothues from CILT takes her place on stage to host the
awards ceremony. The crowd waits in anticipation – who will be
walking away with an award this year?
6.30 to 8pm - The guests watch as judges and sponsors, including
Sky Sports Guillem Balague, film producer Janine Marmot, EU
Intercultural Ambassador Dr Waqar Azmi and languages expert Lord
Dearing introduce the shortlisted LAFTAs clips and present the
first six awards to delighted young filmmakers. 
Broadlands High School, City of London School for Girls,
Harrogate Grammar School and Penketh High School all come on stage
to collect their awards and prizes, which include Apple vouchers,
Eurostar tickets and trips to Spain and Germany.
Bristol University’s Alisdair Cairns picks up the award for Best
Individual Entry for his sketch French Oral Exam, winning a week’s
language course in Berlin sponsored by Cactus Language. Now there
are just two prizes left…
8.10pm - The audience holds its breath as the winner of the
award for Best Overall Entry is announced by Routes into Language’s
Ruth O’Rourke…it’s Chris Thompson and Guy Taylor for their Japanese
thriller, Kaiju Sketch! The 18-year-olds from Northern Ireland come
on stage to collect their award – a top of the range camcorder and
Eurostar tickets to Paris!
8.15pm - There’s just one prize left to go, the
Multilingualvacancies.com People Vote Award 2009. 16,000 people
visited the languages recruitment website to vote for their
favourite clip to win the prize. Multilingualvacancies.com’s
Miranda Reid announces the results of the People Vote…and the
winner is 14 year old James Palmer for Languages Animated! James
looks thrilled as he comes on stage to collect his award and prize,
a year’s worth of cinema tickets!
8.30pm – At the drinks reception, filmmakers, judges and
sponsors mingle and chat about the night’s events, while the
winners pose with their awards for a professional photographer.
9.00pm - It’s all over, and the final guests are leaving. Some
look excited and some look disappointed, but nobody leaves empty
handed – all the film makers go home with a goody bag of gifts
donated by the competition’s sponsors, and a copy of the LAFTAs
DVD. Now it’s time to start thinking about next year’s
competition…