TWO Garnock Academy pupils have come top in a national anti-violence awareness competition.

TWO Garnock Academy pupils have come top in a national anti-violence awareness competition.

We-CTV – part of the Scottish Government’s No Knives, Better Lives initiative – challenges 11 to 18-year-olds from across Scotland to use their creative skills to produce images, stories or short films to educate peers on issues such as knife crime, abuse or online bullying.

Garnock pupils Catriona Kerr, 17, and Robyn Wales, 16, emerged as winners of the multimedia category with their video entry ‘Cry’ depicting problems a young girl faced due to an abusive home environment.

<img style="width: 335px; height: 328px;" src="/media/1006/ah2015330p01_garn_v01.jpg?width=335px&height=328px" alt="undefined" rel="48692" /> Prizes were awarded at a glittering awards ceremony in the Glasgow Film Theatre held by the Scottish Youth Parliament and hosted by Scottish actor, Sanjeev Kohli.

Catriona said: “The We-CTV competition has been a fantastic experience and we have learned a lot over the past few months on how to bring our idea to life and produce our short film.

“We also composed our own music for the film, so it was amazing to see it all on the big cinema screen here tonight.

“It’s great to win, but we hope young people will watch our film and take something from it.

“Young people aren’t alone and there are people out there who you can talk to for help, even when your situation seems really bad.” PC Jim Brown, Campus Police Officer at Garnock Academy, who worked with the women to produce the video said: “As a campus police officer at Garnock Academy, I have been involved with No Knives Better Lives and the We-CTV competition for a number of years.

“Winning a national competition is a terrific achievement for the young people involved.

“We were lucky enough to have two teams in the final and working with them from the initial concept, to the final short films has been an amazing experience.

“It has given me a great sense of pride to be part of this year’s process.” Garnock headteacher Alan Dick said: “Yet again our pupils fly the flag at a national level for Garnock Academy.

“Both teams put in a great deal of time and effort throughout the project.

“Their success highlights the fantastic range of skills our pupils develop at our school.

To view the video go to to<a href="http://www.syp.org.uk/multimedia-W21page-535-" target="_blank" title="We-CTV"> syp.org.uk</a>.