Claire's Big Win at Big Chip Awards

HAVING won two Big Chip awards successively over the last two years, Multimedia Designer Claire Miller has every reason to smile. Claire and her colleagues at 3T won Best E-Learning Project at this year’s prestigious media awards, which recently celebrated their 10th year with a glamorous ceremony New Century Hall, Manchester.

This month, Chorlton-based Claire is also making way for a new accolade on her mantelpiece. She has been named Trainee of the Month for July by Northwest Vision and Media, which works on behalf of the TV, film, radio and digital content industries to grow a world-class media economy in England’s Northwest.

Claire’s new title can be attributed to a drastic career change three years ago. “My career could have looked really different,” she admits. “When I started working eight years ago, it was in the games industry, and I was certain that I wanted to create videogames for the rest of my career. But that industry didn’t suit me and I soon found my interests lay more in new media.

“I found it quite hard to try and break out of that sector, and it was even harder to break into this new area. That’s when I heard about Vision and Media, then called Media Training North West, and joined one of their training schemes in 2006.”

Through this scheme Claire completed a nine-month paid placement at multimedia company Stardotstar in Manchester, which she says was a life changing moment. “Working with Stardotstar made me much happier,” she says. “Working on their exciting projects I learned a lot, and I felt very supported at the same time. They have a great attitude towards trainees. Also, their projects used a lot of flash action script, similar to the technical languages I’d worked with before, which really helped me.”

The training scheme also offered Claire a mentor, to guide her on her new career path. Stuart Nolan, a consultant in interactive media, met with Claire for one-to-one sessions throughout her placement. She says: “Meeting with Stuart was great. He really encouraged me, and gave me the confidence to create opportunities for myself in the new media world.

“I also worked closely with Guy Hilton, Creative Director at Stardotstar, on my placement. All the guys were great, but Guy kept me up-to-date with all the new technology coming in. I always call him my technical mentor,” she adds.

As well as her paid placement, Claire also took part in a number of free workshops over the months that helped to strengthen her skills. She confirms: “I was thinking of becoming a freelancer after my placement ended, so I took workshops that covered topics like tax issues, registering as self-employed, networking and marketing myself. I signed up to work with 3T soon after this as an employee, but those workshops were a great education in how to look after myself in this industry. My training certainly made it easier for me to make the transition to a career I now love.”

Claire’s first Big Chip award in 2007 arose from a Stardotstar project she worked on, called Safe and Sound. This win for Best Use of E-Learning clearly set a precedent in her career. This year’s win, with her new employer 3T was for another E-Learning project called MagicPage, which makes books into interactive learning tools for children.

“We were actually in competition this year with Stardotstar, which was interesting,” she beams. “Obviously my training paid off. I think they were secretly pleased that I won the award this time around as well. It means they taught me well!”

Nowadays Claire is flourishing at 3T, based in Cheadle Hulme, and her ideas are clearly winners. “It’s a really encouraging community, and I enjoy going to work every day. I really enjoy working on fresh new ideas, stretching the boundaries of what we can do, and I’m in the best place to do it,” she says.

Claire is reluctant to reveal the projects she’s currently working on at 3T, and with good reason.
“These projects are top secret, but I’m hoping they’ll be a real success when we’re ready to announce them,” she smiles. And she’s optimistic that developments in the Northwest like MediaCity:UK can only add to her progress.

“We’re living in an interesting place, in interesting times. I’m positive that there’ll be further opportunities coming up soon, for everyone,” she says. “At the moment I’m really happy doing what I’m doing. I like to think that my awards prove I’m doing something right!”