HUNDREDS of students flocked to York’s Reel Cinema for the Yorkshire Royal Television Society (RTS) Student Awards ceremony.

And there was a “home victory” for film and television students from York St John University, who scooped awards in two major categories against competition from universities across the region.

They pipped the rest to the post in the fiction and factual categories, with third-year students led by Edward Cooper and Rheya Brigden winning the fiction award for their film The Sword, a drama about thwarted ambition.

Acclaimed documentary maker Paul Berriff presented the best factual film award to a team of second-year students led by Thomas Hewett and Joe Burrows for Through The Peephole, a visually stunning documentary about the world of burlesque.

Organisers said the RTS Student Awards gave students the opportunity to showcase their work to some of the industry’s biggest names. They were the only awards judged by professionals in the television and broadcasting industry and were the “gold standard” of quality.

Robin Small, senior lecturer in film and TV production at York St John University, said: “It’s a fantastic honour to win two top awards and a real endorsement of the quality and strength of the film and television courses. Staff and students are thrilled about this.”

The two winning films will now be entered to compete at the national RTS Student Awards in London in May 2011, and could scoop the prestigious prize for Yorkshire.

The awards were presented in Reel’s huge Screen One auditorium, where the normal programme of films was halted for the evening.

Reel Cinema boss Kailash Suri, who presented the fiction award, said this was the first such big community event to be held at the former Odeon cinema since Reel reopened it 18 months ago, but it would not be the last.

“There will be many, many more,” he said.