27/3/2024 

Six young people aged 13-17 from Cardiff Youth Services have returned from a unique youth exchange to Carlsbad, California where they scooped the Broadcast Excellence Award at the Student Television Network Convention.

The 11-day trip focussed on film making and attendance to the convention, held at Long Beach Convention Centre, provided a wealth of opportunities for the budding film makers to develop skills, compete in national competitions, attend workshops from industry experts and share culture.

The Broadcast Excellence Awards, presented by the Student Television Network was awarded to the young people from Cardiff Youth Services for their work on Butetown Buzz, a news show co-created with young people where they write scripts, film, report and edit.

The awards celebrate outstanding achievement in student-produced television programming, recognising creativity, innovation, and technical skill across various categories, including news, sports, entertainment, and documentary. Winners showcase the next generation of media talent and inspire excellence in broadcasting.

Whilst in California the group were hosted by American families, attended school, appeared on a young person lead daily television show and took part in cultural activities including trips to Disneyland and Lego Land.

A Cardiff Council spokesperson said: "Cardiff Youth Services are leading the way in digital youth work, successfully engaging and supporting young people across the city to learn new skills such aspresenting, filming, editing, digital art and content creation.

"Partnership working plays a key role in delivering a range of exciting opportunities so that young people can learn about industries such as eSports, coding, film production and AI.

"This latest youth exchange programme is testament to the hard work and commitment shown by the Youth Service team to provide outstanding opportunities to young people in the areas they are passionate about. This trip has allowed this cohort todevelop confidence, increase their digital skills and has taught them to recognise how much they are capable of, whilst making lifelong friends and unforgettable memories."

This summer Cardiff Youth Service will host a group of American young people, offering peer led learning opportunities around film making and provide a range of cultural learning opportunities so that they can learn more about Cardiff and Wales.

Cardiff Youth Services' Digital Team are also actively seeking opportunities to continue opportunities like this with a hope to support further groups of to the states.