Friday night was the Scottish BAFTA New Talent Awards 2010. The ceremony was held in the Mitchell Theatre and had a lovely relaxed atmosphere. As nominees we felt well and truly supported by BAFTA. The picture shows the Scottish Chamber Orchestra‘s Lucy Perry, Helen Jackson of Binary Fable, and Jackie Arnott-Raymond of Front Page Design. Adam Brewster, as usual, is behind the camera.

Congratulations to May Miles Thomas, who pipped us to the Interactive award with her project The Devil’s Plantation. Thanks, May, for giving us a wee mention in your acceptance speech!

Funniest line of the evening went to Best Acting Performance winner Eric Robertson: “Finally, I’d like to thank whoever donated this suit to Oxfam”!

Thanks to the Edinburgh Evening News for featuring us in Friday’s paper. You can read the full piece online: “City’s online animation is up for Scots Bafta award“.

One of the great pleasures of the nomination event was meeting the competition – the multi-talented May Miles Thomas of Elemental Films. May’s something of a legend – she swept the board at the BAFTA Scotland New Talent awards back in 2000 with the UK’s first digital feature film One Life Stand, which also won a Scottish Screen Outstanding Achievement Award.

May’s 2009 interactive project is The Devil’s Plantation:

The idea: to explore the Secret Geometry of Glasgow and find magic in ordinary places… Dear green place or derelict dystopia?

I’m planning to spend time this week properly exploring The Devil’s Plantation as it looks fantastic – why don’t you head over there and take a look?

Here’re some fuzzy snapshots of the evening (my mobile phone camera isn’t getting any better!). Left to right, there’s me with May, Elemental Films’ producer Owen with Lost Book sound designer Stephen, and me with Stephen.

The Carry a Poem reading campaign has been in full flow here in Edinburgh this month. Locals have had a chance to get hold of the free book, attend numerous adventurous events, see poems and poets on stage, on plants, on landmarks and even on sports shirts.

If you’re not in Edinburgh, or have missed the excitement, there’s still time to read the Carry a Poem book online (it’ll be available until the end of February) or take part by answering the question “how do you carry yours?“. Or, for BookCrossers, there’s a Carry a Poem bookring – sign up now.

Oh, and take a look at the animated trailer that Binary Fable produced for the campaign. If you’d like to know more about how it was made, I’ve been blogging about the production process.

A sneak preview of the Carry a Poem animation has exploded onto screens in Edinburgh and online. How do you carry yours? Visit www.carryapoem.com to tell your story and join the campaign.

It’ll be partnering with the Scottish Poetry Library to challenge the people of Edinburgh to Carry a Poem during the month of February. There will be the usual free books, activities, events, and even a new animation by Binary Fable (follow its production over at the Binary Fable blog).

The Carry a Poem campaign website has just been launched and needs your stories. Do you have a poem you carry with you? What does it mean to you? How do you carry it?

You don’t have to be in Edinburgh to take part. Simply get in touch with your answer to the question “How do you carry yours?” !

Artwork by Emily Isles – www.emilyisles.com

Other good news: Mick Cooke (our soundtrack competition guest judge) and Gili Dolev picked up the Animated Short award for the brilliant The Happy Duckling. Well done Mick and Gili!

libertine101 factoid: libertine101 was the person who came up with the name Invisible Inc. for our secret society of bibliophiles, voted the best suggestion back in February.

Aren’t maps fun?!

Thanks to Laura Cummings and the Evening News for a wee mention in Saturday’s paper. It’s great to have support and coverage in Edinburgh’s press. The caption says “Delighted: Helen Jackson” which captures some of the jumping-about joy I’ve been expressing!

Read the piece online: Interactive animation ‘The Lost Book’ up for Bafta.