A Hatfield school pupil has won a Sky Studios Elstree storytelling competition and had their creation animated by DreamWorks.

Students local to the new Sky Studios Elstree in Hertsmere were asked to create 'Sustainability Heroes' to inspire positive change for the planet.

Sky Studios Elstree today (Monday, October 11) announce the winner as Vaidehi Sonigra, a Year 6 student from Howe Dell Primary School in Hatfield.

Vaidehi’s illustration was selected after more than 1,500 students participated in the competition, each creating a climate change superhero.

The winning entry – a story about ‘Dr Thingamajig and Evil Dr Venom’ – has now been turned into a short animation, courtesy of DreamWorks, Sky’s sister company, and home to hit animated franchises Shrek, Madagascar and How to Train Your Dragon.


To celebrate, Vaidehi visited Sky Studios Elstree, which aims to be the most sustainable TV and film studio in the world, to see her design on display.

Vaidehi’s story follows ‘Dr Thingamajig’ and the evil ‘Dr Venom’ who attempts to ruin her plans to create an eco-friendly fuel but accidentally helps her.

As part of this process, Vaidehi was invited to do the voiceover of ‘Dr Thingamajig’.

Vaidehi said: “I was on a Zoom assembly call when they announced the winner, and I was so shocked to hear my name.

"I've always wanted to be an illustrator, and seeing my drawings come to life with my voice has been incredible."

Entries were judged by top creative teams at both Sky Studios and NBCUniversal, both part of Comcast Group, who ran the competition in partnership as the two anchor tenants of the new Sky Studios Elstree, which is set to open next year.

Nishy Lall, Head of Young People at Sky, said: “The creativity shown by these young people has been amazing.

"By building Sky Studios Elstree we’re creating over 2,000 local jobs and we’re committed to developing young local talent. It’s clear there is a wide pool of children in the area that we’d be lucky to work with in the future."

When it opens in 2022, Sky Studios Elstree will house 13 sound stages and will generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in the UK creative sector in the first five years alone.

Sky’s ambition to build the world’s most sustainable film and TV studios in Hertfordshire aligns with its overall ambition to be net zero carbon by 2030, and the Sky Zero campaign to help millions of customers reduce their carbon footprint.