Glitzy awards tops off star-studded year for Demon Media

Some of DMU’s most creative students came together last week to celebrate another incredible year for Demon Media.

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*UPDATE: You can find all of the photos from the night on Facebook here.*

Some of De Montfort University (DMU)’s most creative students came together last week to celebrate another incredible year for De Montfort Students’ Union (DSU)’s resident student media group.

Hundreds of students headed to The Y Theatre in Leicester on Friday for The Demon Media Awards (sponsored by Sulets) to look back on another star-studded year including national recognition and bringing some of radio’s biggest names to DMU.

Prizes were judged by experts and successful Demon Media alumni from across the media industry, including Chris North, founder of North Media Talent; Capital FM’s Ryan Arnold; Katrina Chilver from the Coventry Telegraph and BBC Radio Oxford’s Bethan Head.

Ben and Emily picked up the award for DemonFM Best Show from James ‘Lloydie’ Lloyd, Deputy Managing Editor for Capital FM East Midlands.

Ben Howgill scooped three awards on the night for his work across all three strands of the media group (DemonFM, DemonTV and The Demon).

He said: “I’ll be honest, I was a little bit bewildered and very humbled to have won!

“To have the awards judged by industry professionals is very cool, and I’ll be getting feedback on how to improve, as that is the whole point of the awards.”

The final-year Forensic Computing student continued: “When I came to uni I was doing a completely different course, so joining the group has been a real experience in learning different skills.

“I think that’s where Demon Media really shines. It’s wild.

“[Working in the media] was never something that I considered going into, but I certainly wouldn’t turn down a job in the media industry now,” he laughed.

“For starters, I’d like to obviously thank the rest of the organising committee [Mike Mayes, Emily Frost, Hannah Rowe, Ollie McGrath, Jonny Norton and Amaan Rashid] for helping organise the event.

“The opening video was put together with Ashton [Matthews], and the biggest buzz we had all evening was hearing everyone cheering along to that.”

A visibly shocked Rhiann received a standing ovation as she accepted her award for Demon of the Year.

Rhiann Tintor, a second-year Photography and Video student, picked up the biggest award of the night when she was named Demon of the Year.

She explained: “It’s absolutely crazy. I was not expecting it at all.

“It was a big surprise that everyone managed to keep it from me – I was really shocked.

“I think it’s because I have been part of Demon Media for two years now and taken part in all sorts of things like The Great RAG Challenge and during Freshers Week. Particularly Handmade Festival – that was a lot of fun but a lot of stress!”

And going into her final year at DMU, Rhiann has no plans on holding back. “I want to really leave a big imprint on Demon Media and would love to coordinate events next year,” she continued.

“The team this year have smashed it, so they’ll be hard to follow in the footsteps of!

“I want to thank so many people and obviously Ryan [Cooper], who have all been a great support and I couldn’t have done it without them.

Mike presented the award for Best Technical Contribution to Ryan Cooper, who was the driving force behind building DemonFM’s brand new studios.

Mike Mayes, VP Media and Communications at DSU, said: “Oh my goodness! Demon Media has had an amazing year, with national nominations for all strands, the Student Radio Association (SRA) Conference, the celebration of our 21^st birthday, a brand new radio studio and a magazine that continues to go from strength to strength.

“The night was amazing, and it was great to see so many happy faces celebrating a fantastic year. It’s also always brilliant to have our successful alumni who have gone into the industry come back and judge our awards.”

The full list of awards presented on the night included;