On Thursday 19th May at the Greenside Community Centre in Lisson Grove the second annual Vivendi Awards for Digital Excellence took place.  The award ceremony, attended by over 70 specially invited guests, was also a showcasing and celebration of the digital work done by FreqOUT! groups over the past year.
 
In addition to the screening of a number of short-films and media-scapes made by Vivendi Youth Media Artists in FreqOUT! workshops, also on display were Google-Maps created by intergenerational groups, photo slideshows on the plasma screen, an exhibition of blown-up digital photos taken by FreqOUT! participants and a gallery of quotes and case studies given by FreqOUT! partners and beneficiaries.
 
Angela McConville, the Chief Executive of Vital Regeneration, opened proceedings by welcoming the audience made up of Diane Emdin from Vivendi (who had flown in especially for the event from Paris), FreqOUT! funders and partners, Vital Regeneration trustees and staff, local community members and most importantly the FreqOUT! beneficiaries (young and older) and their friends and families.  Oliver Proctor, the FreqOUT! Project Manager, then gave an overview of the exciting work that the project had delivered to local communities over the past year and introduced a short promotional film recently completed by FreqOUT! participants and digital artists.  Diane also gave an overview of the generous work done by the Vivendi Create Joy Fund worldwide. 
 
Mmoloki Chrystie, a FreqOUT! digital artist and lead tutor, then took control of proceedings as the Vivendi Award Ceremony for Digital Excellence began.  There were seven categories of awards and for each one the digital product (short-film, media-scape, google-map) was shown and then the winners were invited up onto the stage to receive their award from Diane Emdin and answer a couple of questions posed to them by Mmoloki, thus the audience could get a clear idea of the vast range and diversity of FreqOUT! activity.  The winners were as follows:
 
The Vivendi Award for Digital Excellence: Script & Stroryboarding – King Solomon Academy
 
The Vivendi Award for Digital Excellence: Intergenerational Film Making – Burlington Danes Academy
 
The Vivendi Award for Digital Excellence: Editing and Post Production – William Morris Sixth Form
 
The Vivendi Award for Digital Excellence: Media-scape Production – Special Education Programme for K&C (Golborne Youth Club)
 
The Vivendi Award for Digital Excellence: Community Engagement in Artistic Activity – Voluntary Action Westminster (The Portman Centre)
 
The Vivendi Award for Digital Excellence: Digital Documentation – Open Age Hub
 
The Vivendi Award for Digital Excellence: Outstanding Achievement – St.  Andrews Youth Club in association with Tate Britain.
 
The occasion was intimate, engaging and participative and an opportunity for FreqOUT! beneficiaries to proudly see their hard work seen and appreciated by an audience.