2017 Sandford St Martin Awards Judges
Sandford St Martin judges represent some of the best of the UK’s broadcasting and journalism industries. They’re chosen to represent a wide and rich variety of media experience, backgrounds and experiences of faith or spirituality. What they have in common is their skill, professionalism and commitment to excellence in broadcasting.
David Almond
Chair of Children’s Judges
David Almond is the author of Skellig, The Savage, A Song for Ella Grey, and many more novels, stories and plays. His major awards include The Carnegie Medal and the Hans Christian Andersen Award, the world’s most prestigious prize for children’s authors. He is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University. He lives in Newcastle.
Navid Akhtar
TV Judge
Navid Akhtar is the founder and CEO of Alchemiya.com and an award winning Television and Radio producer.
Anna Bassi
Children’s Judge
Anna Bassi is the editor of The Week Junior – an award-winning current affairs magazine for children 8 to 14 years old.
Rev Kate Bottley
Interview Judge
Kate Bottley is a priest and a regular contributor to Channel 4’s “Gogglebox“.
Innes Bowen
TV Judge
Innes Bowen is an editor in the BBC’s Radio Current Affairs department and the author of Medina in Birmingham, Najaf in Brent: Inside British Islam.
Jill Burridge
Interview Judge
Jill Burridge was editor of Woman’s Hour between 2002 and 2011. Before that she helped to launch the discussion led website iVillage. Now an independent editor and media consultant, she continues to actively advocate for women in the media.
Julie Etchingham
TV Judge
Julie Etchingham presents and reports for ITV News at Ten. Julie also presents the Tonight programme for ITV and was the first woman to be named Royal Television Society Presenter of the Year in 2010. She won the award for a second time in 2016.
Hussein Kesvani
Interview Judge
Hussein Kesvani is a freelance journalist and the Head of PR/Communications at Theos. He was previously a special correspondent for BuzzFeed News
David Lloyd
Chair of Radio Judges
David Lloyd is a radio executive, strategist, trainer, media historian, broadcaster and the author of ‘How to Make Great Radio’.
Nicola Meyrick
Radio Judge
Nicola Meyrick was Head of BBC Radio Current Affairs from 2007 until 2015. Before that she edited and produced programmes for Radios 3, 4, 5 Live and the independent sector. She’s now combining journalism with studying for an MA.
Aasmah Mir
Chair of the Interview of the Year Judges
Aasmah Mir is a Sony Gold Award-winning broadcaster and the co-presenter of ‘Saturday Live‘ on BBC Radio 4. She also reports for ITV’s flagship current affairs programme ‘Tonight‘.
Tim Patterson
Children’s Judge
Having held a number of senior positions at Nickelodeon/Viacom, BBC, UKTV, ITV and Disney, Tim is now CEO of Larkshead Media, an end-to-end media service company. Primarily focused on kids programming IP, Larkshead Media gives TV programme ideas the best start in life and plans for their future, with specific focus on programme development, investment, programme brand planning and strategy and sales.
Daniel Pearl
Chair of TV Judges
Daniel Pearl is the deputy head of news and current affairs at Channel 4 where he commissions Channel 4 News and also edits ‘Dispatches‘, the award-winning current affairs documentary series.
Nabila Ramdani
Radio Judge
Nabila Ramdani is an award-winning freelance journalist and broadcaster who specialises in French politics and the Arab/Muslim world. Her columns appear in titles including the Independent and Guardian/Observer, and she contributes to discussion programmes on outlets such as the BBC and Sky News.
Caroline Raphael
Radio Judge
A former Head of BBC Radio Drama and Commissioning Editor for BBC Radio 4 she has since worked for Penguin Random House Audio and is currently running Dora Productions producing and developing radio drama, comedy and documentaries for BBC Radio 3 and 4.
Jeanette Steemers
Children’s Judge
Jeanette Steemers is Professor of Culture, Media & Creative Industries at Kings College London and an active advocate for children’s television.
Shortlisters
In addition to our judges, we are indebted to our 2017 shortlisters all of whom have have direct and relevant broadcasting experience in the category they were asked to work on. Together they are charged with whittling down the entries. They include:
Fareena Allam, Jane Anderson, Roger Bolton, Olive Clancy, Torin Douglas, Hugh Faupel, Oliver File, Flora Gregory, Abdul-Rehman Malik, Natasha Maw, Anna McNamee, Reem Nouss, Harry Parker, Pete Rawlings, Angela Robson, Paresh Solanki and Bryony Taylor.
