Judges for the Sandford St Martin 2023 Awards

Chair of the Young Audience Judging Panel

A.M. Dassu is the internationally acclaimed author of Boy, Everywhere, and Fight Back, which have collectively been listed for 42 awards, including the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, the Carnegie Medal, The Little Rebels Award for Radical Fiction, the American Library Association Notable Book List and Jane Addams Peace Book Award.

She is a director at Inclusive Minds, which is an organisation for people who are passionate about inclusion, diversity, equality and accessibility in children’s literature, and one of The National Literacy Trust’s Connecting Stories campaign authors, aiming to help inspire a love of reading and writing in children and young people.

A.M. Dassu grew up in the Midlands dreaming of becoming a writer but studied economics instead and worked in marketing and project management before realising her dream. She writes books that challenge stereotypes, humanise the “other” and are full of empathy, hope and heart. Her latest book, Boot It! is a World Book Day novel, published in March 2023.

Young Audience Judge

Jackie Edwards is a passionate advocate for public service television, and until very recently, was living her dream job as the Head of the BFI Young Audiences Content Fund, responsible for the implementation of this game-changing UK Government initiative to stimulate the provision of public service content for audiences of 0-18.

This hugely successful three-year Pilot awarded £44.1M of funding supporting 61 brand new commissions for UK children and teens and funded the development of a further 160 new projects, over 9% of which have already been commissioned.  The Fund has been a powerful lever in stimulating a sector in market failure.

Jackie joined the BFI from BBC Children’s where she had been the Head of Acquisitions and Independent Animation, responsible for pre-buying and acquiring live-action and animated programming for CBeebies, CBBC and iPlayer.  She joined the BBC in 2008 as Content Manager and Executive Producer.  Prior to the BBC, Jackie was an award-winning producer in the independent sector for 14 years, developing, financing and producing specials and series for young audiences.

TV/Video Judge

Amber Haque is a presenter and documentary maker, aspiring to bring a fresh approach to hard-hitting docs for younger audiences – reporting on everything from honour violence and true crime to the sustainability of Ibiza’s clubbing culture. Amber was named as a ‘One To Watch’ at Edinburgh TV Festival and has just finished presenting the BBC Three flagship series Hometown: A Teenage Killing.

An NCTJ-accredited journalist who won a place on the BBC’s prestigious Journalism Trainee Scheme, her UK and international work has made headlines and been watched by millions on the BBC News at Six, The One Show, Victoria Derbyshire, BBC World Service and BBC iPlayer.

Amber has spoken about her work at the Press Association Festival of Journalism and Sheffield DocFest. She’s currently presenting a Panorama investigation for BBC One and developing documentary ideas in the USA and India.

Chair of the TV/Video Judging Panel

Hayley Hassall is an award-winning investigative journalist, TV and Radio Presenter and has been presenting News and Current Affairs across the BBC and ITV’s flagship programmes for almost 20 years. Hayley currently presents her own show on BBC Radio 5live, and also runs the BBC’s first Mental Health clinic together with guest doctors.

Hayley started her presenting career after being an undercover reporter for Panorama; since then she has reported and presented on BBC Panorama specials, The One Show, Sunday Live, ITV Tonight, BBC1 Radio 4 and 5Live. Hayley is the anchor of BBC Newsround, which she has presented for over 12 years. She is passionate about bringing social affairs to a younger audience and throughout the Covid Pandemic, Hayley presented BBC Bitesize, the daily education show for children who couldn’t get to school.

Hayley won a RTS award for best presenter and reporter after she went undercover for Panorama: Undercover Midwife. She won a BAFTA for her Panorama Documentary: Brains Homecare Scandal, and has won a Sandford St Martin Award for her documentary on refugee children. She is currently nominated for an Aria and Prix Europa for her audio documentaries on the post office.

Chair of the Radio/Audio Judging Panel

Journalism Judge

Adama Juldeh Munu is an award-winning journalist who has worked with many well-known media publications including TRT World, Al-Jazeera, the Huffington Post, The New Arab and Black Ballad. She writes about race, Black heritage and issues connecting Islam and the African diaspora. A 2020 FIPP & UPM Rising Stars in Media winner, Adama was nominated for a Media and Cultural Awareness Award at the 2020 British Muslim Awards, receiving a High Commendation Award. She was also shortlisted for the Media Achievement Award and Rising Star in Media at the 2022 and 2018 British Muslim Awards.

Adama has lectured at the Muslim Institute, the School of Oriental and African Studies, and St. Andrews University, and is currently working on a cultural multimedia series focusing on Turkey and the African Diaspora for The Afropean. ​She is also a working member of MUSAWAH’s journalism collective which focuses on fighting gender discrimination in Muslim-majority societies.

Radio/Audio Judge

Dixi Stewart is an award-winning programme maker with over 30 years’ experience across the broadcasting industry and the Managing Director of the SandStone Global production company.  She presented the BBC’s first weekly LGBT show, launched Talk Radio UK, and produced flagship programmes for BBC Radio 4 such as The Food Programme, Woman’s Hour and Saturday Live. She’s also edited a wide range of global news events, documentaries, podcasts and series including the widely admired Ideas That Make Us with Bettany Hughes.

Dixi has worked at a strategic level to reinvent and grow audio across all the BBC’s services and to establish BBC Sounds. As Chief of Staff to the BBC’s Managing Director, she led on initiatives to develop talent, improve the BBC’s working culture and increase its diversity both on and off air.

Dixi is a trustee of the Radio Academy and in 2021 was honoured with a Fellowship in recognition of her work directing the Radio Festival and co-founding the Audio and Radio Emergency Fund to support colleagues across the industry throughout the Covid-19 pandemic.