A First Light funded project has won a National Lottery Award.

The Beacon Hill Film Project won the National Lottery Award for Best Arts Project. The result was announced live on primetime BBC television on Saturday (4th September) from London’s prestigious Roundhouse. The show was hosted by John Barrowman, and the award was presented by star of the recent drama “Sherlock”: Benedict Cumberbatch.

The Beacon Hill Film Project is a partnership between Beacon Hill Business and Enterprise College and Arpeggio Films. Funded by First Light, the project has given young people with disabilities in North Tyneside the chance to develop filmmaking skills.

The project has already won two coveted film industry awards, including the 2010 First Light Award for Best Original Music, which was sponsored by PRS for Music and the work has been aired on national television, being described by film critic Barry Norman as “enchanting.”

One of the films made as part of the project, The Pirate and the Mermaid, can be viewed here

You can see them collecting their Awards at the glittering London ceremony here – it’s around 54 minutes into the programme.