A five-minute smartphone video story by a scientist who switched to studying graphic design at Charles Sturt University (CSU) in Port Macquarie has won a prestigious national award.

Ms Tania Ritchie, a graphic design student in the CSU School of Communication and Creative Industries, was last week announced by Pearson Australia as the winner of the 'Arts and Education' category in its 2015 Student of the Year Awards.

Ms Ritchie (pictured) began studying the graphic design degree full-time in her first semester in Port Macquarie, then part-time through CSU Online during her second semester. She said she greatly enjoyed her studies, and her time at CSU in Port Macquarie exceeded her expectations.

"I think the Charles Sturt University campus is a pretty significant thing for Port Macquarie," Ms Ritchie said. "We were the first-ever design class to be taught there, and it was a really interesting mix of subjects with great lecturers and a great group of fellow students," she said.

"Since then I have already been able to put the things I've learned to use. I've designed a few spreads for the student magazine Synapses, and done some paid work including logo design (for a creative writing organisation), business card design (for an actor/director), packaging design (for a solar energy company), and website design (for an international social development organisation). My graphic design lecturer Willhemina Wahlin has been the facilitator and mentor for several of these projects."

Ms Wahlin, who nominated Ms Ritchie for the Pearson Australia award, said, "One of the greatest things about teaching a student like Tania is watching her thinking evolve within her design practice. She cares about the work and her fellow students. She's also willing to volunteer for extracurricular activities, like designing for the Synapses student magazine, and for workshops that we occasionally run for local high school students. I'm so proud of her progress, and will be watching her future with great interest."

Interestingly, Ms Ritchie's only filmmaking study has been 'Introduction to Media Production', a first-semester subject she completed last year, and she filmed and edited her award-winning video entirely on her iPhone.

"My initial plan was to make a short film using professional software and animated video effects I'd learned in class," Ms Ritchie said. "But all that went out the window when the only free time I had to make the video coincided with a four-day hike in the central plateau area of Tasmania with no computer, power, or internet access.

"I took my iPhone 6s and my pocket-sized solar charger. I filmed everything using my phone during the trip, and wrote down notes for the structure and script in a pocket notebook. My husband filmed the scenes in which I appear, and he also put up with me pausing during our hike to film random things that I thought might be useful for the video.

"While I had been turning ideas over in my mind for the whole week, I scripted and edited the video over two evenings. All editing was done in my phone using Apple's iMovie app for iPhone. I uploaded the finished film straight from my phone using hotel wi-fi in Hobart the morning after our hike."

The result speaks for itself – and its maker. In answering the competition's set questions, Tania produced an entry with an inspired narrative of an allegorical journey by an engaging central character, using humour and visual wit with beautifully crafted high-quality footage and editing. Congratulations Tania!