We win award!

Terrence Higgins Trust was awarded a ‘High Commendation’ for Innovation for the Let's Get Tested project at the Pharma Times Awards last night. We launched the film making competition, in partnership with Abbott, earlier this year to raise young people’s awareness around sexual health.

Thanks to everyone involved in the competition, including several of our Young Leaders who helped in judging the finalists in the competition.

More about the winner

Wednesday 22nd of April saw the winner of our Let's Get Tested competition announced at a reception at the House Of Commons.

Let's Get Tested was a film making competition for young people. We hope it will raise awareness amongst other young people about testing for sexually transmitted infections, and help to improve sexual health.

The reception was hosted by Lord Fowler, THT’s Chief Executive Sir Nick Partridge, and Glen Wallace who plays Malachy Fisher in Channel 4’s Hollyoaks.

The winning film, ‘Uh oh Jimmy!’ by Peter Kimball Evans from Bristol is a tongue in cheek take on the old style public information films. Peter’s animated film highlights the importance of good sexual health, when the character in the film Jimmy unwittingly passes on an STI to his girlfriend Stacy after a fling with another girl.

Peter who is currently studying animation at the University of the West of England, Bristol said: “I can’t believe that I’ve won the competition! As soon as I found out about Let's Get Tested, I knew I wanted to create a film that was informative but also fun. I've always loved the old black and white educational films, and thought it would be the perfect way to create a light hearted film about the importance of looking after your sexual health.”

Peter will receive £2,000 and the opportunity to work with a leading British director or producer.

Sir Nick Partridge, Chief Executive at Terrence Higgins Trust said: “Let’s Get Tested was launched because we wanted to change the perception amongst young people that getting a sexual health check is something that’s scary and difficult – to being something that’s quick and easy. Peter’s film does this brilliantly and its message is simple: get tested, look after yourself.”
Glen Wallace who plays Malachy Fisher in the Channel 4 programme, Hollyoaks, helped to launch the competition earlier this year. Glen was also at the awards to announce the winner of the competition.

Glen says: "Playing a character like Malachy who has been affected by HIV really got me thinking about how important it is for young people to talk about sexual health. As I prepared for the story line, I discovered the last time that a high profile character with HIV was on TV was 20 years ago with Mark Fowler in EastEnders. It made me realise that potentially a whole generation of young people might not be aware of HIV. So that's why I got involved in Let's Get Tested. Having kicked off the competition it's really exciting to see the winning film. I hope it will help get the message about the importance of good sexual health out to even more young people across the UK."

To watch Peter’s winning film and for more information on the competition, visit the Let's Get Tested website.

This initiative is supported by a restricted educational grant from Abbott.