LONDON, June 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --

The winners of the third reed.co.uk Short Film Competition were announced last night at an Awards Ceremony held at The Hospital Club, hosted by Episodes star Stephen Mangan.

Year on year the competition attracts a high calibre of film makers vying for the Grand Prix of £10,000 and the opportunity it brings to further their career in film.  With over 500 entries received this year, 12 finalists were selected to go before the judging panel to decide the winner.  

The winners were announced in the following categories; Best Animation was Tim Wilson's How To Be Boss, What Plato Says, The People's Choice Award went to Francis Annan for Going Up, the Judges Commendation went to Jonathan Brooks' The Devil's Apricot and The Grand Prix Winner was awarded to Alex Emslie for The Boss.

The panel of six industry judges included award winning director Paul Weiland, Universal's Diane Kelly and The Reel's Jamie Madge.  

Grand Prix Winner Alex Emslie said, "It's an incredible feeling to have won the reed.co.uk Short Film Competition. I'm massively happy that everyone's hard graft on the short paid off, it was a great shoot and I hope this means we can work together again soon."

View Alex's winning entry here: http://vimeo.com/41155702

Paul Weiland, judge and long time supporter of the reed.co.uk Short Film Awards comments on the winning short: "The Boss is a really ambitious project, which takes an original idea and combines it with well judged editing, superb use of special effects, stunning cinematography and incredible attention to detail.  This year's Grand Prix winning entry captures everything there is to love about short film."

The reed.co.uk Short Film Competition was established in 2010 to give aspiring film makers a platform to have their work seen by the industry and the opportunity to further their career in film.  In addition to the Grand Prix, the competition also awards prizes for the Judges Commendation, The People's Choice Award and Best Animation for which 3 finalists have been selected.  

Oscar Sharp won the first competition with Sign Language and is currently working with Olivia Colman (Tyrannosaur, The Iron Lady) and Shaun Dooley (The Woman in Black) on his latest film.  Last year's winner Ben Ridolfi is currently developing his first feature.  

Following last year's competition, shortlisted filmmakers from the first two competitions were invited to create a TV ad for the reed.co.uk job site, six of which were selected and put before a public vote.  The winning entry, Super Reed, by Jonathan Brooks, Mat Laroche and comedy trio The Wogans, aired on major television networks in the UK earlier this year.

http://www.reed.co.uk/film

The Winners

Best Animation
How To Be Boss, What Plato Says
Director: Tim Wilson
Starring: N/A

The People's Choice Award
Going Up
Director: Francis Annan
Starring: Martin Collins, Adam Loxley

Judges Commendation
The Devils Apricot
Director: Jonathan Brooks
Starring: John Rutledge, Mark Davison, Charlotte Hunter

The Grand Prix Winner
The Boss
Director: Alex Emslie
Starring: N/A

SOURCE reed.co.uk