It's not quite the Oscars, but a fun film promoting coastal safety in Dorset is in line for an award.

The Dorset Coast Forum’s short animated film, ‘CoastWise’, aimed at helping people to stay safe while still having fun, has been selected by The Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts to receive a 2017 Davey Award for Film/Video-Education.

The idea behind creating a video came about between SafeWise, a partnership between the emergency services, councils and businesses – which has a site in Weymouth – and the Dorset Coast Forum and some of its members.

Safewise, wanted to find a new way to promote safety information on the coast and the Dorset Coast Forum works with some of its members involved in all the different types of coastal safety messages.

These members include The National Trust, Jurassic Coast Trust, Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Dorset AONB, Litter Free Coast and Sea, Dorset County Council, Dorset Fire and Rescue, Chesil Trust and Dorset Wildlife Trust.

A short, animated film was decided as the best way to promote some of the key messages in a fun and engaging way.

Watch it below

CoastWise characters were created for the film.

Dorset firm LoveLove Films came up with the concept of a group of sea creatures that would get into various tricky situations by the coast.

Working with the Dorset Coast Forum and children from Courthill Infant School, Bournemouth the final film was shaped and created.

Bridget Betts, Dorset Coast Forum co-ordinator said: “We are absolutely thrilled that the CoastWise film has won this award. We never for one moment thought that the safety messages we wanted to get across to people visiting our beautiful coast would turn into an award winning video with thousands of hits on YouTube. 

“The film will now be rolled out as a learning and educational resource at coastal visitor centres, schools and as part of educational packages, which is very exciting for everyone who has been involved with this project. Special thanks must go to the Fine Foundation which funded the video and LoveLove films.”

Since its launch in June, CoastWise has had more than 52,000 hits on YouTube.

Visit Dorset, the official tourism site for Dorset, is also helping to promote safety on the coast and have created a CoastWise page where the film can be viewed and where people can learn more about how to get the most out of their visit, safely.