ONE gifted media student at a Prudhoe school will be presented with an award bearing the name of an Oscar winner.

The inaugural James Reed Award for outstanding filmmaking will be given to a pupil at Prudhoe Community High School.

The award is named after former student James Reed who co-directed the Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher, which won best documentary at the Oscars and Baftas in 2021.

He said: “I had such a lot of fun watching this year's shortlisted film.

“There is some great talent here, and considering they are all still at school, they are already producing work of a quality that I would expect to see at the end of degree courses.

“If they had sent me these films as showreels, then I would have been asking to meet them and talk about possible future work.

“Some of the films made me laugh, some made me think, but all of them made an impression, which is what every filmmaker is hoping for.”

The award will be presented on May 27.

Media teacher Tim Smith added: “These last two years have been a challenge for everyone, but especially this group of students who have faced huge disruption to their education.

“I felt they deserved some special recognition for their hard work and so I asked James if he would be happy to have the award named after him.

"But he went way above and beyond and offered to view their films, give detailed feedback, and then have a mentoring meeting with the overall winner, and those receiving special commendation awards.

“These are life-changing opportunities for our students.”

James is currently editing a new, secret project that he was in Uganda filming on the night of the Baftas. It is due for release on Netflix early 2023.