James McArthur

A 25-year-old University of Lincoln student has beaten 1,000 entrants to become winner of the Young Creative Chevrolet (YCC) competition in Germany.

Kenny Van Mierlo took on rivals from over 280 schools in a bid to become Europe’s top young visual artist.

The pan-European initiative, which supports creative talent from across Europe, received a variety of entries from 24 different countries.

Kenny won first place for his short film at the UK deliberations and went on to win second place for his entry at the European finals in Cologne.

He said: “I’m so very happy to have won second place in the European final, I really didn’t expect it.”

“My main goal was to make an entertaining video which would leave people with a happy feeling. Getting to work with Andy Baker of MoFILM will be an amazing opportunity for me to learn from the professionals.”

He added: “I want to become a commercial director in the future and hope to move to London to find a starting position in the industry, so the prize money will really help towards this.”

Kenny received a prize of £3,300 for his video and will be honoured at the Gala Awards in Los Angeles in October.

David Alberts, Chief Creative Officer from MoFILM film production said: “Kenny’s video was a wonderfully simple short story that was well written, well-acted and well shot.”

“I walked away from our day believing that YCC was providing a stage for young creative people to shine.”

NHS Lincolnshire said around 6,500 people have successfully quit smoking this year thanks to its new self-help service.

The Phoenix Stop Smoking Service, part of Lincolnshire Community Health Service’s (LCHS) NHS Trust, has managed to reach its annual targets in helping people across the county quit smoking.

Some 12,000 people signed up for the service last year. Of that, 6,500 (54%) managed to quit their smoking habit in just four weeks.

The service lead at LCHS, Stephanie Heathcote, said: “The Phoenix team has worked extremely hard and has produced some incredible results with higher quit rates than ever before.”

“The Pheonix Stop Smoking Service works closely with healthcare professionals, including GPs and pharmacies and has dedicated advisors on hand at venues throughout the county, including at its four Health Shops in Boston, Skegness, Gainsborough and Lincoln.”

She added: “Clients are four times more likely to stop smoking with the help of Phoenix. The service offers free appointments to suit individual needs, including late evenings, Saturdays and also a telephone service.”

“It’s never too late to stop smoking as the health benefits are immediate.”

For more information about the NHS Stop Smoking programme visit the Phoenix Stop Smoking Service website, or call their healthcare professionals on 0800 840 1533.