Coleg Llandrillo has been awarded the crown of the best 'Further Education Institution in the UK' by an international games industry company for its ground-breaking initiatives in the world of games development and computing.

The 'Grads in Games Educational Institution' award - which was open to all educational establishments in the UK - highlights those institutions at a further education level who have demonstrated a positive impact with their students over the past 12 months.

These are the colleges that are doing the most to help students, giving them the best opportunities to graduate into higher education or into a games industry role.

This is an industry award, presented by Aardvark Swift - a leading global recruiter for video games and related industries ('Grads in Games' is a graduate initiative and is one of the company's promotional arms).

Announcing the winner, a spokesperson for the company commented: "This year we had some incredible nominations which really highlights the fantastic work being done at this level. These were whittled down to a shortlist of four finalists who were then judged by our panel.

"This year's finalists were: Coleg Llandrillo; ELAM - East London Arts and Music; Priestly College, Warrington and Warwickshire College.

"Following deliberation by our judging panel, we can now reveal that, in their expert decision, the winner of this year's award is Coleg Llandrillo. We feel Coleg Llandrillo is an excellent example of the quality of teaching at further education level and we are very happy to present this award to them.

"Coleg Llandrillo has shown that it is continually developing its practice to teach the most up-to-date content possible and keep up with the changes in the games industry.

It has become a Tranzfuser hub and has also recently completed work on a brand new VR (virtual reality) room specifically for students to develop their own VR projects. It has even set up a guided Esports team within the college.

Educational partnerships with the likes of Sony and Nintendo ensure paid work placements for their students as well as a host of industry guest speakers visiting the college."

The colleges' own students sent in their own nominations, which were reviewed and judged by industry experts. Coleg Llandrillo received glowing recommendations from its own games development students.

Coleg Llandrillo tutor and course programme leader, Rob Griffiths said: "To have Coleg Llandrillo's Games Development course recognised as one of the best in the UK is a fantastic achievement, recognising the great work that the gaming team here at Coleg Llandrillo do year-on-year. It was great to see that the student nominations were extremely positive."

For more information on the college's courses in Games Development, or Computing courses in general, please call the college's Learner Services team on 01492 542 338.