Judges for the Sandford St Martin 2025 Awards
Sandford St Martin judges represent some of the best of the UK’s broadcasting and journalism industries. Chosen to represent a broad range of experience, perspectives and backgrounds as well as attitudes to faith, what they have in common is their skill, professionalism and commitment to excellence in broadcasting.
Gloria Abramoff
TV/Video judge
Gloria Abramoff is an accomplished media and broadcast executive with over 20 years’ experience as a senior BBC editor. Previously she ran her own production company, Tonic Productions and now is the Managing Director, Factual for Creators Inc. Her most recent award winning film, The Commandant’s Shadow, was released by Warner/HBO for global cinema distribution. She is a previous Trustee of the Jamie Oliver Foundation and the Separated Child Foundation and is currently a Trustee of JW3, the cultural arts centre.
Joanna Adeyinka Burford
Chair of Young Audience judging panel
Joanna Adeyinka Burford is a dynamic TV presenter, entertainer, best known for her work as a regular presenter in the CBeebies House. If you tune in you’ll hear Joanna’s voice on some popular Cbeebies’s shows too: Jojo and Gran Gran, Pup School and most recently, Wonderblocks. Beyond television, Joanna is an author and director. She published her debut book What’s Up: 30 encouragements to fuel your faith in 2024 and co- directed Maddie Moate’s: a very curious Christmas.
Sarah Agha
TV/Video Judge
Sarah Agha is an actress, broadcaster, film curator and writer. She co-hosted the award winning documentary series The Holy Land And Us on BBC Two and recently produced and presented The Arab Film Club’s inaugural podcast series on Palestinian Cinema. She plays series regular Betsy Temple in The Hardacres on Channel 5. Before working in film and TV, Sarah studied Theology at Trinity College Dublin.
Sabah Ahmedi
Radio/ Audio Judge
Sabah Ahmedi, also known as ‘The Young Imam’ on social media, is one of Britain’s youngest Imams. He shares what life is like as a faith leader living in London and campaigns for better representation on TV and film of minority narratives, voices and faces.
Guvna B
Chair of Radio/Audio judging panel
Isaac Borquaye, more commonly known as Guvna B, is a three-time MOBO Award winning rapper, author and broadcaster from London. His album, The Village is On Fire (2023) was an Official Charts number 1 and he has amassed over 75 million streams. His sophomore book, Unspoken (2021) became an Amazon bestseller. He is a regulator contributor across BBC Radio 2, Radio 4, and 1Xtra. He was also the first rapper ever to top the Official Christian & Gospel Charts.
Harjeet Chhokar
Chair of TV/Video judging panel
Harjeet Chhokar is a Unscripted Development Executive in the UK Originals Team, at Amazon MGM Studios. He works across the unscripted slate, primarily on documentaries. Prior to joining Amazon MGM Studios, Harjeet was a Documentaries and Specialist Factual Commissioner at Channel 4 and also spent 17 years working in production, across a wide range of Factual programming.
Connie Dimsdale
Journalism Judge
Connie Dimsdale is a journalist at The i Paper covering social affairs from education to women’s health. She won the End Violence Against Women Award in 2023 for her investigation into online grooming and her coverage of chronic urinary tract infections has led to the UK health authorities recognising the hidden health crisis and improving treatment guidelines.
Ian France
Young Audience Judge
Ian is Commissioning Editor at Sky Kids, working editorially with programme teams on a variety of content, including the BAFTA award-winning topical news output for children FYI, and its various special investigations. Ian has produced numerous notable children’s programmes in his career, including the two-time BAFTA award winning Operation Ouch! Before joining Sky, Ian was the Head of Presentation for BBC Children’s, overseeing all the presentation output on the CBeebies and CBBC television channels.
Dr Myriam Francois
Chair of Journalism judging panel
Dr. Myriam Francois is an award-winning Franco-Irish journalist, filmmaker, and writer. She is the founder and CEO of MPWR Productions, a production company specializing in documentary films that centre on minority voices. Myriam currently presents The Stream on Al Jazeera English. She is also a senior TV and radio presenter and producer, as well as a seasoned reporter, having reported for BBC World Service, BBC London News, and TRT World.
Amanda Hancox
Radio/Audio Judge
Amanda is an award-winning producer who has produced a wide range of programmes for BBC Radio 2, 3 and 4; BBC1 and BBC4. She was Series Producer of Factual and Music for BBC’s Religion and Ethics with editorial responsibility for a range of documentaries and high profile series. Since leaving the BBC in 2020 she has co-authored ‘Sunday: A history of religious affairs through 50 years of conversations and controversies‘ with Edward Stourton.
Vanessa Harriss
Young Audience Judge
Vanessa Harriss is the editor of the multi-award-winning weekly children’s news magazine, The Week Junior. In a career of 25 years, she has worked for many newspapers and magazines but highlights include being copy chief at TIME (Europe, Middle East and Asia) and working at Wired UK, explaining complex technologies to a broad readership.
Ben Hunte
Journalism judge
Ben Hunte is an Anchor & Correspondent for CNN, based in Atlanta (USA) and London (UK). Previously, Ben was the BBC’s first LGBT Correspondent, reporting on stories surrounding sexuality and gender, before becoming the BBC’s West Africa Correspondent. He went on to be a Global Correspondent for VICE News, investigating stories about LGBTQ people, race, and inequality from across the world. In 2023, Ben won the Out D’or Foreign Press Award in France, for his investigations into transphobia at the Equality and Human Rights Commission.
Mai Noman
Journalism judge
Mai Noman is a Yemeni-born, UK-based Journalist with over 15 years of experience in the media field with particular expertise in creating content and strategy for digital platforms. During her 10 years with the BBC Mai has produced, presented and commissioned content and spent time in bureaus across Asia, Africa and the Middle East training editorial teams on creative storytelling for digital platforms. Mai is also on the board of trustees for One World Media.
Tony Phillips
TV/Video Judge
Tony Phillips is an experienced radio and podcast executive, a former CCO at Broccoli Content, VP at WNYC Studios in New York and Commissioning Editor at BBC World Service and Radio 4. He is the Founder and Director of audio production company Sea Salt and Mango, and is on the board of trustees for Artangel.
Farah Qayum
TV/Video Judge
Farah Qayum is an award-winning Executive Producer with over a decade of experience crafting bold, thought-provoking factual content for major broadcasters. Passionate about storytelling that challenges perspectives and amplifies underrepresented voices, her work spans hard-hitting documentaries, specialist factual, and innovative social-first content. A champion of diversity both on and off screen, Farah has led high-profile productions that push creative boundaries and spark meaningful conversations.
Emmerson Sutton
Young Audience Judge
18 -year old Emmerson Sutton is just about to start his professional career at Queen’s Park Rangers Football club in West London. He has held several roles within the European Youth Film Academy since the age of twelve and has also been a young reporter for the BBC, Advisor to the Young Mayor of Lewisham and one of Action for Children’s Arts (ACA)’s Young Supporters.
Shortlisters
In addition to our judges, we are hugely indebted to our 2025 shortlisters, all of whom lent us their time, energy, enthusiasm and their expertise to the category they were asked to work on. Our thanks to:
Raha Ansari, Bridget Cass, Rob Cave, Olive Clancy, Tim Daykin, Matti Griso Dryer, Shea Ferguson, Claire Hoang, Hannah Ludlow, Calvin Manika, John Matheson, Nana-Adwoa Mbeutcha, Anna McNamee, Dany Mitzman, Reem Nouss, Mark Perrow, Thuy Anh Phan, Angela Robson, David Strachan, Bryony Taylor and Chris Wilson.