Varndean College Computer Science student Jude Birch is one of 11 UK finalists in the '15-18 years Game Making' category of The British Academy of Film and Television's (BAFTA) nationwide competition to find the country's best young game designers.

The competition was open to young people aged between 10-18 to submit game designs and concepts which addressed a wide range of social issues including mental health, climate change, conservation, disability, bereavement, and the rights of transgender people.

Jude's submission was a futuristic adventure game called 'Space Core' using Unity. The winners of each category will be chosen by a panel of industry professionals and announced at an awards ceremony at BAFTA headquarters, London on Saturday 29 June.

Jude (ex Lewes Priory School), who has recently completed two years at Varndean studying A Level Computer Science, Physics, Maths and Further Maths plans to take a gap year before hopefully studying Computer Science at Bristol University in 2020. Jude is no stranger to winning competitions. In 2018 he was the winner of Google's annual Code-In competition, winning a trip to California to visit Google's HQ, and also in 2018 was announced 'Young Innovator of the Year' in The Argus's Youth in Action Awards.