The Sandford St Martin 2024 Awards
The Sandford St Martin 2024 Awards competition is now open for entries.
The Sandford St Martin Awards are among the UK’s most prestigious broadcast awards for audio and video programmes and content. Now in their 46th year, uniquely they focus on the broadcast exploration of religious, spiritual or ethical themes while welcoming entries about all faiths or none.
Judges are specifically looking for the best broadcast content that encourages the exploration of belief and how it impacts on the world in which we live.
There are four categories: TV/Video, Radio/Audio, Journalism and Young Audience.
To be eligible, entries must have been first broadcast between 1 January and 31 December 2023 and have been publicly available to a UK audience.
For more information and details of how to enter click here.
The deadline for entry is midnight, 31 January 2024.
Shortlists will be published in mid-March 2024 and the winners will announced at a special ceremony which will be held at Southwark Cathedral in June. Follow us on social media for updates: @sandfordawards.
In the meantime, you’re looking for inspiration, find out more about 2023’s winners.
Outreach and events
Find out more on our Events page where you can listen to recordings of previous Sandford St Martin Media salons such as In Conversation with Edward Stourton, reflecting on 50 years of BBC Radio 4’s flagship religious affairs programme Sunday or Back to Burnley a discussion about the impact of news reports from Burnley during the pandemic on of one of the nation’s most vulnerable communities. Or hear Heidi Thomas, speak about making the international hit television series “Call the Midwife”.
There’s more recordings and information about these and resources linked to our other projects such as “Why Black Media Matters”, “What 4? How will privatisation affect religious diversity at Channel 4?” and “Broadcasting in the time of Corona: strategies for Journalists & Producers” here.
Why religious and ethical broadcasting?
As advocates for excellence in broadcasting exploring belief and ethics, the Sandford St Martin Trust is committed to making the case for content that furthers people’s understanding of how faith – whether one’s a believer or not – affects the world around us.
Watch our film where leaders from Manchester’s interfaith community talk about cooperation across religious differences and how broadcasting can support this here.
Why does the quality of broadcasting and journalism about belief, faith or people’s ethical or moral view points matter anyway? Read our blog and hear what leading media and religious figures and previous award winners like Simon Schama, Jimmy McGovern, Frank Cottrell Boyce and Lyse Doucet think. Or read the Trust’s submissions to Ofcom, the BBC Trust, The Future of TV inquiry and the House of Lords Communications Committee.