It was a matter of hitting two birds with one stone as UCT students used their research project to enter the national Vuka Awards.

The interactive media production trio of Fabio Longano, Daren Fuchs and Jacqui Kirk, who are graduating from the Centre for Film and Media Studies this week, created the animated advert for Nazareth House, a home for orphaned, sick and homeless children.

The group hoped to raise funds for the home through the ad.

Going up against some 1 000 Vuka entries, their two-dimension style animation made the top 30 and will be aired by DSTV for a year.

Their animation tells the story of a boy who succumbs to HIV/AIDS.

Fuchs explains that their approach was different to traditional AIDS stories.

"We wanted to take a different perspective on AIDS and create an awareness message that we thought would have more impact and persuade people to donate to Nazareth House," he said.

The "time-consuming" experience, which took about four months, had an impact on the creators too.

Longano said it was a learning process for the students, and it taught them more about the pandemic and how it affects people.