York undergraduate Helen Hobin wins award for "Lights on Literature"

Posted on 6 May 2014

Second year English student Helen Hobin was awarded 'highly commended' for her documentary film "Lights on Literature" by the National Student Television Association (NaSTA).

Helen with her prize

The NaSTA holds an awards ceremony once a year to reward the best work submitted by the member stations across a number of categories. York Student Television (YSTV)picked up three prizes in total, including 'Best Broadcaster, at the awards ceremony on 5 April.

Helen's programme explores the rich literary history of Yorkshire, with the first two episodes investigating the work of the Brontë siblings and James Herriot. It was one of 24 entries in the 'Best Factual' category. Filming is ongoing for future episodes about Dracula and the York Mystery Plays.

Said Helen, "Filming the series has been a really fantastic opportunity to explore literature outside of the course and to trace its history in our local landscape - trekking across moors with cameras has really brought novels like 'Wuthering Heights' to life. I was privileged to meet and interview the Collections Manager of the Brontë Parsonage Museum, Anne Sutton, to chat with James Herriot's daughter Rosie about his life as a vet, and to discuss with members of our Department, including Jonathan Brockbank, James Williams and John Bowen, the literary nuances of the texts. We're looking forward to heading to Whitby next to trace the first fictional steps of Count Dracula."

You can watch the award-winning programme on the YSTV website.