Why religious and ethical broadcasting?
We believe that in today’s world, religious literacy is more important than ever. Good programmes that explore belief and ethics can help audiences understand how religion affects human affairs. They can raise awareness about diversity, challenge stereotypes and broaden our understanding of the world’s many rich cultures and traditions.
Read our blog and hear why leading media figures and previous award winners like Jimmy McGovern, Frank Cottrell Boyce, and Lyse Doucet think religious broadcasting is important. Or watch the 2024 awards ceremony overture below to get a flavour of the inspirational content championed by the Sandford St Martin Trust.
The Sandford St Martin 2025 Awards
For almost 50 years the Sandford St Martin Awards have celebrated the best of this kind of broadcasting. Our judges are particularly interested in content which promotes a better understanding about how religions or belief affect the world we live in.
This year’s awards competition is now closed for entries.
But if you’d like details about the four categories or our eligibility criteria, you can click here.
Finalists in the TV/Video, Radio/Audio, Journalism and Young Audience categories will be announced at the end of March and winners will be announced at a special ceremony to be held at Lambeth Palace in June.
The Sandford St Martin 2026 Awards will open for entries in November this year. If you’d like be reminded either follow us on social media or sign up for our newsletter.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for inspiration, watch the overture to our most recent awards ceremony featuring some of our 2024 finalists, below.
Outreach and advocacy
In addition to making awards, the Trust works to encourage and advocate for excellence in the broadcast coverage of religion and belief.
We have held a series of events aimed at encouraging conversations between media experts, practitioners and audiences about some of the biggest issues in broadcasting and the media coverage of religion and ethics today.
The Trust is also engaged in the wider public debate surrounding the future of religious broadcasting in the UK through our public submissions and our work with partners – such as our latest project with the University of Leeds, collaborating to help develop new methods to better evaluate public service media provision across VOD services.
