Thursday 30 March 2023

Dr Tony Stoller CBE, Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust said:

“ While the Sandford St Martin Trust welcomes moves to modernise current broadcasting legislation, we are concerned that the Government’s draft Media Bill published yesterday will not protect or ensure the future of core Public Service Broadcast (PSB) content such as religious and ethical programming.

“The draft includes a proposed loosening of the existing PSB remit. This will see current obligations to provide a range of programming which includes ‘education, sport, science, religion and other beliefs, social issues, matters of international significance or interest’ replaced by a much less specific obligation ‘a sufficient quantity of audiovisual content that… reflects the lives and concerns of different communities and cultural interests and traditions within the United Kingdom’. We believe this qualification is too vague to be enforceable and fails to indicate what a ‘sufficient’ quantity is.

“We would also like to ask how, without targets, quotas or clear obligations around genres, the Government proposes the quality and quantity of PSB provision will be assessed? Who will do the assessing and what measures will they use to ensure audiences are getting the content they deserve?

“The Sandford St Martin Trust has long argued that to ignore religion is to leave a gaping hole at the heart of public service broadcasting. For this reason, it is essential that the Government ensures that the sustainability of this important genre is at the heart of the process of modernising broadcasting legislation and the future of Public Service Broadcasting.”

Monday 6 June 2022

This year’s Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Awards unite two recipients whose work demonstrates the instrumental role broadcasting plays in influencing how we see ourselves and how we see others.   

Through their work Lenny Henry and the Afghan women’s news organisation Rukhshana Media have each made the case for more accurate, authentic representations and the breaking down of barriers in the media. They have introduced new stories, amplified marginalised voices and in doing so have opened audiences and readers up to new ideas, new role models and ultimately shown how content-makers and broadcasters can contribute to a better society and a better world through their work. 

One of the UK’s best-known and most-celebrated actors, Lenny Henry’s award is in recognition of his ongoing campaigning work to address inequality and under-representation in broadcasting. Since making an off the cuff quip about the BAFTAs being “all white on the night” at an awards ceremony in 2013, Henry has been increasingly outspoken about the lack of diversity in the media and the changes required. This has included giving evidence on the subject to Parliament and now the establishment of the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity at Birmingham City University, which is the powerhouse behind a growing effort to increase representation of all marginalised people in the media industry. 

Journalism is a dangerous business in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban takeover in August 2021, journalists, news agencies and broadcasters have been increasingly targeted by attacks, kidnappings and other violence. It’s against this background that the journalist Zahra Joya, now as a refugee in London, continues to run Rukhshana Media, the news organisation that is receiving an award in recognition of their unwavering commitment to journalism and making Afghan women’s stories heard. Asked about working in exile, Joya said “Honestly, we don’t do simple journalism these days. We are trying to write for our freedom.”  

Speaking about this year’s Trustees’ Award winners, Sandford St Martin Chair, the Rt Rev Dr Helen-Ann Hartley Bishop of Ripon said “As audiences we have become increasingly sensitive to how the portrayal of different communities in the media affect not only how others see them but how we see ourselves. In an increasingly multi-cultural and multi-faith world, this year’s Trustees’ Award winners have played a crucial role in helping us to see and understand each other. While hailing from very different backgrounds and parts of the world, both have challenged and widened the conversation around what good broadcasting is and what it is for.” 

The Trustees’ awards along with the Radio Times Readers’ Award and prizes in four broadcast categories will be presented as part of a gala ceremony in front of an audience of some of the UK’s best known and most influential broadcasters at Christ Church, Spitalfields on the evening of 22 June 2022. 

EDITORS’ NOTES  

Images for press or media use are available here. Please credit the Sandford St Martin Trust and the named photographers.

Tuesday 5 April 2022

A public statement from the Rt Rev Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Ripon and Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust:

“ The Sandford St Martin Trust is deeply alarmed at the news that the government is pushing ahead with plans to privatise Channel 4. It is our belief that one of the many risks associated with privatisation would be the demise of religious and ethical content provision on the Channel.

“In its current form Channel 4 has reasonably successfully delivered on its remit to represent and make content relevant to the UK’s diverse faith communities but we believe there is still room for improvement. Channel 4 is responsible for the recent comedy series We Are Lady Parts as well as recent Sandford St Martin Award winners such as the drama It’s a Sin (SSM/Radio Times Readers’ Award winner, 2021) and Ramadan in Lockdown (SSM Trustees Award, 2021) – content made for and by the communities represented.  Renowned Channel 4 films such as For Sama (SSM TV/Video Award winner, 2020) and strands such as Dispatches and Unreported World have built Channel 4’s international reputation for journalism unafraid of exploring the impact of religion on politics, economics, and culture. If ever there has been a need for such a valued and valuable public service, the time is now.

“The Sandford St Martin Trust has long argued that to ignore religion is to leave a gaping hole at the heart of public service broadcasting. Because of its current remit Channel 4 has been at the frontline of promoting tolerance and understanding across a range of social differences. It must remain there.”

EDITORS’ NOTES  

Further information about the Trust’s response to debate on the ownership of Channel 4 is on our website:

What 4?: How will the privatization of Channel 4 affect religious diversity. Video panel discussion with Aaqil Ahmed (former Head of Religion C4), Marcus Ryder (Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity) and Maggie Brown (historian and journalist) (6 September 2021)

Submission to the House of Lords, Communications & Digital Select Committee: Call for Evidence on the Future of Channel 4 (17 September 2021)

Submission to the DCMS: Consultation on a change of ownership of Channel 4 (14 September 2021)

Monday 17 January 2022

A public statement from the Rt Rev Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Ripon and Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust:

“It is with concern that we at the Sandford St Martin Trust have read reports that the BBC is to be hit by a funding freeze and that the culture secretary Nadine Dorries is anticipating the abolition of the licence fee after 2027.

“The BBC plays a critical role in the promotion and enhancement of the public and personal understanding of religion. This has never been clearer than during the last two years when so many UK citizens depended on the BBC for content that helped support their own religious practice and connected them with their communities.

“The value the BBC has offered in this area is evidenced through the list of excellent programmes that have been shortlisted or have won Sandford St Martin broadcasting awards in recent years.

“As a funding mechanism, the licence fee has served as contract between the broadcaster and the UK public – the only stakeholder its output exists to serve. We would be very sorry to see this or the BBC’s reputation as a world class public service broadcaster and creative leader jeopardised and would welcome an opportunity to discuss how public service broadcasting and the BBC can be funded to truly represent all communities and viewers in the UK.”

Tuesday 8 June 2021 20.00 BST 

Top honours at this year’s Sandford St Martin Awards put the emphasis on the importance of public service broadcasting while recognising a new generation of content-makers exploring some of the most pressing issues around social justice and religious literacy today. 

Marking a year of uncertainty for many working in the broadcast industry, two distinct themes have emerged from this Sandford St Martin five category winners: the power of love in the face of grief, and the long legacy of historical wrongs. 

Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust, the Rt Revd Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Ripon said: 

“During a year when so many of us were stuck in one place, public service broadcasting played a critical role. This year’s winners have all helped audiences to engage with and experience the world, creating space for us to share in a public conversation about values and what it’s like to be alive today.” 

The poet and writer Tony Walsh who chaired the judging panel in the Children’s Broadcasting category said: 

“We were presented with a strong and varied array of content which was clearly created with great skill and creativity to represent a huge breadth and depth of very real support to our children, young people, their families and teachers in these most challenging of times… It cannot go without comment that, in a year when, as a nation, we have needed to be “informed, educated and entertained”, as never before: that all six of this year’s (Children’s nominees were commissioned by, in-house from, or in partnership with the BBC. This speaks at volumes that need to be both widely heard and deeply reflected upon.” 

BBC content dominated the shortlists in all five of the Trust’s annual categories, winning three:

• The Children’s Broadcasting Award for: Sol a children’s animation from Belfast’s Paper Owl Films about a young boy who undertakes an epic adventure to re-find joy after the death of his grandmother. 

• The Journalism Award for: Hidden Children of the Church made by BBC Religion and Ethics for Radio 4, about the scale and impact of the rarely acknowledged fact that thousands of children have been fathered by allegedly celibate Catholic priests.  

• The Radio/Audio Award for: The Paddle Out made by Falling Tree Productions for the World Service, an immersive documentary about how surfers honour and remember fellow surfers who have died.  

However, against the background of BLM, Al Jazeera English have taken the top prize in: 

• The TV/Video category for Ashes to Ashes (Rees Films) a documentary about the living legacy of racist violence in America, featuring the American artist Winfred Rembert, who died earlier this year having survived being lynched by a racist mob in the 1960s.  

And: 

• It’s A Sin (Red Production Company) – Russell T Davies’ brilliant, searing drama about the 1980s Aids crisis for Channel 4 – has been named winner of the Radio Times Readers’ Award, voted for by readers of that magazine. Talking to the Radio Times about audience response to the series, Russell T Davies said:  

“I wasn’t expecting this reaction, I must say… I wanted to create characters we love, who we then miss after their deaths, exactly like the real-life experience of looking back on the ’80s. … And of course, the shock of those deaths is hitting young viewers hard. We’re getting thousands of stories about teenagers and young people being astonished and outraged. This seems like a recognisable world to them – OK, the cars are different, but it’s got young characters in bars hooking up and having fun, it’s essentially today… So, to see a familiar world in which men die, in secret, in shame, and no one does anything to help, is horrifying. I’m being told stories of people’s children in an absolute fury! And they’re shocked that this isn’t on the syllabus, it isn’t even in our anecdotes. It feels like an awful secret being uncovered.” 

Promotional images are available to download here:  

https://sandfordawards.org.uk/sandford2021_press-images/ 

SANDFORD ST MARTIN  2021 AWARDS FULL RESULTS     

TV/Video Award:  

Winner:  WITNESS – ASHES TO ASHES, Rees Films for Al Jazeera English 

Runner Up: EXPOSED: THE CHURCH’S DARKEST SECRETS, Top Hat Productions for BBC Two    

Radio/Audio Award:   

Winner: THE PADDLE OUT, Falling Tree Productions for Heart & Soul, BBC World Service 

Joint Runner Up:  DOCUMENTARY ON ONE: THE DEADLY SARIS, Documentary on One for RTÉ Radio 1 

Joint Runner Up: THE PUNCH, Just Radio for BBC Radio 4 

Journalism  Award   

Winner: HIDDEN CHILDREN OF THE CHURCH, BBC Religion and Ethics for BBC Radio 4 

Runner Up: WITNESS – BUDDHA IN AFRICA, A Momento Film and Thinking String Media for Al Jazeera English 

Children’s Award   

Winner: SOL, Paper Owl Films for TG4, SG4 and BBC Alba 

Runner up: MY BEST FRIEND MARRIED A WARRIOR, Drummer TV for BBC iPlayer 

Radio Times Readers’ Award  

Winner: IT’S A SIN, Red Production Company for Channel 4 and HBO 

 Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Content Award  

Winners:   

BURNLEY CRISIS, BBC News for BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 4 and BBC 5Live 

RAMADAN IN LOCKDOWN, Clockwork Films for Channel 4 

Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Community Award  

Winners:   

PSALM 23, UK Jewish Film for YouTube 

RADIO WANNO, Religious services on local prison radio by Radio Wanno and the HMP Wandsworth Chaplaincy Team 

EMBARGOED UNTIL: Thursday 11 June 2020 19.30 BST 

Top honours at this year’s Sandford St Martin Awards will be shared by household names Neil Gaiman, David Tennant and Michael Sheen (winners of the Radio Times Readers Award for “Good Omens”), Stormzy (recipient of the Trustees’ Award) and a new generation of content makers exploring some of the most pressing issues around social justice today. 

From the war in Syria, to Hindu-nationalist inspired vigilante violence in India; from the remembrance of Tsumani victims in Japan to secret, state-surveillance of American Muslim communities in Chicago, and the sexual bullying and harassment of teenage girls by their peers, winners and runners up in this year’s competition for broadcast content exploring religion and ethics, has been dominated by broadcasting with a focus on promoting empathy, exposing social injustice and making the world a better place. 

Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust, the Rt Revd Helen-Ann Hartley, Bishop of Ripon said: 

“When it comes to educating the public and building community, there is nothing to compare with broadcasting and journalism.  It’s been heartening and feels timely that even as we are striving to understand the reach and repercussions of the current pandemic, our broadcasters are grappling with the big questions and how they and we can contribute in a meaningful way to building a better world.  I’m very proud that this year’s winners and runners up epitomise the best of both broadcasting but also broadcasting with meaning.” 

In response to the pandemic, all shortlisted finalists were asked to record acceptance speeches “just in case” they won, for inclusion in a streamed broadcast including the announcement of the winners, starting at 18.30 BST on June 11. 

In a comments that resonate with ongoing Black Lives Matter protests, Rabab Haj Yahya, the New-York based editor of “The Feeling of Being Watched: Surveillance in a US-Arab Community”, winner of the Journalism Award, paid tribute to the journalist Assia Boundaoui and her work to expose racial profiling and the oppression of minorities by US officialdom.   

 “Assia tenaciously took on the US government, not only to expose the singling out of one Muslim community outside of Chicago but the fact that if it could happen there it can happen anywhere else.  Winning this award is the encouragement we need to know that we are not alone in this and a motivator for others to speak out as well.” 

The actor Michael Sheen, speaking of why the Sandford St Martin Awards with their focus on broadcasting that explores religion, ethics and morality, matters said:  

 “Everyone is desperately wanting to talk about what it’s like to be a human being, all the time.  It’s what connects us to people.  And if we don’t get to talk about those things because it seems like they’re the big poncey questions – and only certain kinds of people talk about things like that, in certain kinds of places and certain kinds of ways – then we’re all sort of diminished and we starve.” 

 

SANDFORD ST MARTIN  AWARDS 2020 FULL RESULTS    

TV/Video Award:  

Winner: FOR SAMA, Channel 4 News and ITN Productions for Channel 4 and Frontline PBS  

Runner Up: THE LAST SURVIVORS, Minnow Films for BBC Two  

Radio/Audio Award:   

Winner: THE WINDPHONE, Falling Tree Productions for Heart & Soul, BBC World Service 

Runner Up:  THIS IS MY STORY PODCAST, EPISODE 1: ALLEN LANGHAM, United Christian Broadcasters for UCB Player App/Podcast Platforms  

   

Journalism Award   

Winner: THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED: SURVEILLANCE IN A US-ARAB COMMUNITY,  

Al Jazeera English for Witness, Al Jazeera English 

Runner Up: THE HOUR OF LYNCHING, Field of Vision, The Guardian, Pulitzer Center, Cave Pictures for Guardian documentaries, Field of Vision 

  

Children’s Award   

Winner: NOW I CAN BREATHE, CTVC Ltd for TrueTube.co.uk 

Runner up: FINDING MY FAMILY: HOLOCAUST – A NEWSROUND SPECIAL, BBC Children’s In-House Productions for CBBC/iPlayer  

 

Radio Times Readers’ Award  

Winner: GOOD OMENS, BBC Studios, Blank Corporation, Narrativia, Amazon Studios for Amazon  

  

Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Award  

Winner: STORMZY  

  

5^th December 2019

Youngest bishop appointed as new chair by the Sandford St Martin Trust 

The Sandford St Martin Trust is delighted to announce that the Bishop of Ripon, the Right Reverend Dr Helen-Ann Hartley, has been appointed as the Trust’s new Chair.

Director of the Sandford St Martin Trust, Anna McNamee, describes Bishop Helen-Ann as “an inspiring leader and a skilled communicator with a history of breaking down boundaries and building relationships.  We’re confident Bishop Helen-Ann will bring new vibrancy to the role of Sandford St Martin Chair at a time when broadcasting and the face of religious Britain are rapidly evolving.  Especially now at the culmination of the BBC’s Year of Beliefs, when many content-producers have been focussing on faith, belief and values and their impact on the world today, her enthusiasm and broad perspective will resonate widely.”

Bishop Helen-Ann, the youngest Bishop in the Church of England and the former Bishop of Waikato, New Zealand, comes to the Trust with a longstanding commitment to supporting broadcast media and says,

“My early days of media experience were in local radio. As a curate in the Diocese of Oxford, it was BBC Radio Oxford that gave me the opportunity to learn and understand something of how the media work, and the particular importance of local media in telling local stories with a wide reach. I will always be grateful for that, and as a result, hope that in my time as Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust, programme makers at all levels will have a part to play in enabling our stories to be told. I am confident that the Sandford St Martin Trust will continue to enable a wide diversity of voices to be heard and celebrated into the future.”

She raises issues about the importance of truth and integrity in the context of today’s media and says; “‘What is truth?’ was the question asked by a first century Roman politician during the trial of Jesus. That question resonates down the generations and right into our present social and political turmoil. The media have a vital role to play in the search for answers to this question. Since many questions of truth and identity have profound religious, ethical and moral resonances, there is a particular urgent need for excellence in religious and ethical broadcasting. I look forward to working with the Trust to advocate for quality broadcasting that seeks to promote social cohesion and community understanding. We need both of these aspects to help build healthier and more resilient and tolerant communities.”

For more information or for interviews with Bishop Helen-Ann contact

anna.mcnamee@sandfordawards.org.uk

Monday 13 May 2019 

Presiding Bishop Michael Curry wins top broadcasting award for Royal Wedding sermon  

• Presiding Bishop Michael Curry recognised for global impact of sermon on theme of love at the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018. 
• An estimated 1.9 billion people watched Presiding Bishop Curry, the first African American to head the US Episcopal Church, tell a congregation of royals and celebrities that “love is the way”.    

American Bishop Michael Curry, presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church, is to receive the 2019 Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Award in recognition of the huge media impact generated by his royal wedding sermon which helped to bring a better understanding of religious belief and its modern relevance to a new audience. 

The Rt Rev Jan MacFarlane, Bishop of Repton and Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust, said: 

“One of the indisputable broadcasting highlights of the 2018 royal wedding was Bishop Curry’s sermon.   His inspirational words were broadcast to millions around the world and were instrumental in shining a spotlight on the central role faith plays in the wider social discourse, not least in the most significant moments of our lives. 

“At the heart of his sermon, Bishop Curry spoke of love being the most important and powerful force for unity in the world – a message much needed when the social and political divisions in the UK and around the world are being so deeply felt.” 

The Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Award recognises individuals, programmes or organisations which have made outstanding contributions to their audience’s understanding of religion, ethics or spirituality.  Previous recipients include author, journalist and broadcaster Joan Bakewell, composer Sir John Tavener, journalist Lyse Doucet, and, broadcaster and historian Neil MacGregor. 

The UK writer, broadcaster and former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Philips will dedicate Bishop Curry’s award at a special ceremony at Lambeth Palace on June 13th.   

-ends-  

EDITORS’ NOTES   

1) The Awards      

Winners of the 2019 Sandford St Martin Awards including the Trustees’ Award and the Radio Times Readers’ Award (which readers of that magazine vote for in their thousands) will be announced during a special ceremony at Lambeth Palace on June 13th 2019. You can find out more about this year’s shortlists, judging panels and previous winners at https://sandfordawards.org.uk   

2) The Sandford St Martin Trust      

The Sandford St Martin Trust is an independent, non-profit organisation. It has been making annual awards for the best programmes about religion, ethics and spirituality since 1978.   The Trust engages with a wide range of media organisations, individual journalists, broadcast content-makers and other media figures, many of whom give their time and expertise voluntarily to support the Trust’s work. This work includes contributing to and participating in conferences, festivals and training as well as on-going public consultations and debates on the future of broadcasting. 

3) Sandford St Martin Friends 

The Sandford St Martin Trust supports thought-provoking, distinctive programming that engages with issues of faith, morality and ethics. In recent years the rise of ‘fake news’, misinformation, hate crimes and an increasingly divided society means the need for religious literacy has never been greater. Through individual gifts of £5/month and their engagement with the Trust, Sandford St Martin Friends contribute to promoting and protecting excellence in broadcasting.   sandfordawards.org.uk/friends
 

For more information contact: 

Claire Boxall 

claire.boxall@sandfordawards.org.uk  

07779 633024 

 

January 29, 2019

Sandford St Martin Trust response to release of BBC’s programming for its ‘Year of Beliefs’/commitment to Religious & Ethics programming.

The Sandford St Martin Trust, which gives annual awards for excellence in programmes about religion and ethics have welcomed the BBC’s announcement of some of the programming it has planned for its ‘Year of Beliefs’ – an initiative the Director-General Tony Hall promised “will ensure the BBC better reflects the UK, the world, and the role that religion plays in everyday life”.

Responding to the announcement, Jan McFarlane, the Bishop of Repton and Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust said:

 “While the BBC’s commitment to its Year of Beliefs got off to a shaky start when Radio 4 cancelled new editions of its long-standing programme ‘Something Understood’, the range and ambition of the factual programmes across the BBC’s TV, radio and online channels is encouraging. 

“The Trust particularly welcomes the BBC’s commitment to bring issues of faith, belief and ethics to as wide an audience as possible and to find ways of engaging with younger audiences through a new Youth Panel and its major new survey exploring attitudes to contentious issues and responses to ethical dilemmas.  And, while, they were not mentioned, the huge popularity of series such as ‘Broken’ and ‘Call the Midwife’ clearly demonstrate that audiences are eager for such stories to be told.”

Note:

Click here to read the BBCPress Release: ‘BBC strengthens is commitment to Religion & Ethics programming with a ‘Year of Beliefs’ across TV, radio and online’ (28 January 2019)

 

December 3, 2018

Sandford St Martin Trust launches new religious Journalism Award for 2019

Entries are now being accepted for the UK’s most prestigious annual broadcast awards for radio, TV and online content exploring religious, spiritual or ethical themes including the new Sandford St Martin Journalism Award.

An addition to the TV, Radio and Children’s categories, the Journalism Award will recognise broadcast coverage of breaking news, ongoing coverage of news events, and original investigative or analytical journalism featuring a religious dimension – either one intrinsic to the story or issue itself, or one explored through the contributors included.

Speaking of the new award Bishop Jan McFarlane, Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust said: “We cannot understand the world and the changing nature of our own country if we do not understand what is one of the most important parts of the lives of many, perhaps most, people – their religious faith.  In a difficult, turbulent and often confusing world we depend upon good journalism to be at the forefront of explaining and exploring these beliefs and the actions that flow from them.”

Many of the news stories that dominated 2018’s headlines have involved religion or belief and the Awards’ trustees anticipate that among the many programmes eligible, entries in the new category will include news features giving proper analysis of the Rohiningya refugee crisis or the role religious identity has played in Bangladesh and Myanmar; investigation into anti-Semitism in European politics, an examination of the role US evangelical churches have played in supporting or countering Donald Trump’s immigration policies, interviews around the Irish referendum on the 8^th Amendment or the Danish burka ban. The winner will be the programme that gave the most authoritative and insightful treatment to the religious or ethical dimension of a news event.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby previously used the Sandford Awards as an opportunity to call on broadcasters to treat religion “with the same seriousness as other genres like sport, politics, economics or drama” and said “the promotion of religious literacy should be a specific duty”.

Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s chief international correspondent and winner of the 2015 Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Award, said: “Sadly, distortions of religious belief and texts are used as political weapons in many conflicts as well as clashed over traditional beliefs and practices.  That requires us to know more about the tenets of major religions and systems of belief, to be able to assess and analyse different interpretations.”

The deadline for entries is Friday 1 February 2019. Winners will be announced at a special ceremony at Lambeth Palace on Thursday, June 13^th 2019.

For details on how to enter, go to https://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/enter-the-2019-awards/

 

Monday 29 October 2018

Is the BBC reneging on its commitment to religion and ethics less than a year since the publication of its landmark Religion and Ethics Review?

Last week the BBC confirmed that it will no longer be making new editions of the long-running religious and ethical programme Something Understood causing audiences to ask how deep is its commitment to the promises made by the Director General, Lord Tony Hall in the BBC Religion & Ethics Review published in December 2017.

From April 2019, originations of Something Understood will be replaced by programmes from its archive.

Responding to the news of the programme’s demise, Jan McFarlane, the Bishop of Repton and Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust said:

“When it published its Religion and Ethics Review last year, the BBC concluded that it was committed to reforming its output and the Director-General of the BBC said that their plans “will ensure that the BBC better reflects the UK, the world, and the role that religion plays in everyday life”.  As interesting and valuable as the archive examples of Something Understoodare, they will not represent the role that religion continues to play in everyday life today and they will be less pertinent when it comes to addressing the evolving world or contemporary decisions made at home and abroad.  In cancelling Something Understood, Ifear the BBC has reneged on its professed commitment to religious and ethical broadcasting less than a year since the publication of its review”.

Bishop Jan went on to ask suggest that the decision to replace the current series – in which journalists and commentators such as Mark Tully, Remona Aly, John McCarthy and Rowan Williams, among others, explore contemporary issues and aspects of belief in depth – with archive, implies that the BBC believes religion is for yesterday and not for today.

In response to a query from the Trust the BBC issued the following statement:

“The BBC continues to face significant financial challenges and has to save £800 million by 2021, so Radio 4 like the rest of BBC Radio has to make tough choices. We’ve broadcast Something Understood for nearly 24 years and we know the decision to no longer make this programme will disappoint our audience but we have a full and rich back catalogue of the programme and we propose to fill the schedule with the best of the archive for the foreseeable future. We are putting into action our plans to increase the ambition of religious programmes and the critically acclaimed Morality in the 21st Century is an example of this, plus series like Moral Maze and Sunday continue to explore religious and ethical questions in depth.”

The Sandford St Martin Trust, which contributed to the BBC’s Review, believe that while Morality in the 21^stCentury– presented by Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks and broadcast last September – was indeed an ambitious and excellent week-long series, the BBC will need to commission many more such strands to replace the 52 editions of Something Understood broadcast throughout the year.

  

EDITORS’ NOTES  

1) The Sandford St Martin Trust   

The Sandford St Martin Trust is an independent, non-profit organisation that promotes thought-provoking, distinctive programming that engages with religion of all faiths, ethics and morality. It has been making annual awards for the best programmes exploring these subjects since 1978.

In addition the Awards, the Trust engages with a wide range of media organisations and individual journalists, filmmakers, broadcasters and other media figures, many of whom give their time and expertise voluntarily to support the Trust’s work. This includes contributing to and participating in conferences, festivals and training as well as on-going public consultations and debates on the future of broadcasting.

You can read more about the Trust at https://sandfordawards.org.uk

2) The BBC Religion & Ethics Review

In December 2017 the BBC set out is wide-ranging plans to increase its ambition for coverage of religion and ethics – helping people understand the world they live in better, and providing tools and knowledge that will inform their lives.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/religion-and-ethics

 

For more information:

Anna McNamee, Executive Director

anna.mcnamee@sandfordawards.org.uk

7 June 2018

Jimmy McGovern’s Drama BROKEN Starring Sean Bean and Anna Friel Is Double Sandford St Martin Award Winner  

Writer Jimmy McGovern’s hard-hitting drama Broken, which explores the modern reality of a priest in a deprived Liverpool community, has scooped two awards at the 40th anniversary Sandford St Martin Awards for religious broadcasting during a prestigious ceremony at Lambeth Palace in London this evening. 

Made by LA Productions and broadcast on BBC One to critical and public acclaim, the series saw Father Michael Kerrigan, played by Sean Bean, struggle to maintain the mental and spiritual balance needed to serve parishioners. The programme was chosen by readers of the Radio Times magazine who voted in their thousands for their favourite programme exploring religious, ethical or spiritual themes. It was chosen also by a panel of media professionals to receive the best TV award. 

Chair of the TV judging panel Aaqil Ahmed, former Head of Religion at the BBC and Channel 4, said:  

“Our winner is a great example of how religion on the box can reach you in places you may never have expected it to come from. All of the judges were blown away by the writing, acting and the sheer passion all round. This drama showed the place that religion has in the lives of many in Britain today, whether you are a believer or not. It also showed the difficulties and impact that people of faith can have, particularly in communities struggling to simply just get by.” 

In the Radio category the winning programme was 5 Live Daily with Emma Barnett, for her three hour long live broadcast from Stanbrook Abbey – home to 21 Benedictine nuns. The programme included a range of candid conversations about knickers and football rivalries with women listeners would never normally meet.  

Chair of the Radio judges Caroline Wyatt, former BBC News religious affairs correspondent, said: 

“The judges felt this was a worthy winner, informative and respectful yet just cheeky enough – and asked all the questions I’d ever wanted answered at my own convent school though would never have dared ask.” 

In the Children’s category, production company CTVC had three programmes shortlisted and won with Screwball!, a short film about two teenagers negotiating the terms of their developing relationship for the #MeToo generation.  

Presenting the Award, category Chair of Judges Baroness Floella Benjamin, TV presenter and member of the House of Lords, emphasised the need for good quality British produced programming for children. 

The best Interview award was given to the BBC World Service documentary Heart and Soul: Good without God, which featured father and son Tony and Bart Campolo, previously two of the America’s best known evangelical pastors, about what happened when Bart lost his faith. 

The 2018 Trustees’ Award was presented to Neil MacGregor, historian and former director of the British Museum.  The Trust’s Chair, the Rt Rev Jan McFarlane, Bishop of Repton said: 

“Through the lens of history and such ground-breaking work as the BBC’s “Living with the Gods”, MacGregor has introduced new audiences to the vital role religion plays in the human story.”

 For a full list of 2018 Award winners click here.

31 May 2018

Special Award to Blue Peter marks Double Anniversary

* The Sandford St Martin Special Award is being given in recognition of Blue Peter’s commitment to furthering its audiences understanding of faith and ethical issues.

* On June 7th Radzi Chinyanganya, Diane-Louise Jordan, and Janet Ellis will accept the award on behalf of the programme during a special ceremony at Lambeth Palace.

* The award marks a double anniversary, as Blue Peter celebrates 60 years and the Sandford St Martin Trust marks its 40th anniversary.

* The award will be presented by Gemma Hunt, presenter of CBeebies’ Swashbuckle, and co-presenter of the Alpha film series.

The Rt Revd Jan McFarlane, Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust said:

“Since its early days Blue Peter has been introducing young audiences to the world around them and in so doing has fostered a sense of belonging and responsibility for its future. Through the programme, children – myself included -have had the opportunity to explore the natural world, history and science whilst also engaging with bigger questions about immigration, the environment, how things work or what makes a community and major questions about who they are and how they want their world to be. It’s in recognition of Blue Peter’s 60 years of providing this vital service and the huge contribution it has made to enabling our understanding of belief, moral and ethical issues that the Sandford St Martin Trust is presenting this special award.”

Ewan Vinnicombe, Editor of Blue Peter, said:

“We are delighted to receive the Sandford St Martin Special Award for our contribution to furthering understanding of belief, moral and ethical issues that affect the children watching Blue Peter. Over the years many will remember the expeditions, travelling the world, unlocking cultures, meeting interesting people, and sparking ethical debates including the recent “Walk That Changed the World” special on American Civil Rights featuring Radzi and Lindsey’s exploration of “Vote 100”. Reflecting our audience has always been the key to Blue Peter’s success, and we couldn’t forget the many festivals across the year that Blue Peter features including Lunar New Year, pancake making for Shrove Tuesday, Eid, Diwali, Hanukah and of course the homemade advent crown and Christmas celebrations featuring our famous nativity scene.”

20 December 2017

Sandford St Martin Trust response to BBC Religion and Ethics Review (December 2017)

The Sandford St Martin Trust welcomes the publication of the BBC’s internal review of its religious programming strategy published today

The Rt Rev Jan McFarlane, Bishop of Repton and Chair of the Trust said:

“The Trust strongly welcomes this review in that it emphasises the importance of religious literacy in understanding our world. The BBC’s research has shown that the public realise that we need to understand other faiths in order to live together peacefully in our world – and the media play a central role in this. I look forward to reading the review in full. We are encouraged by the report’s general direction and the seriousness with which the review has been undertaken, we look forward to seeing how the recommendations in the report will be translated into practice.”

The Trust believes that the BBC’s existing coverage, though valued, needs to be protected and so advocates the introduction of a new public purpose for the BBC which would be “Promoting religious literacy: BBC audiences can rely on the BBC to reflect the many religious communities that exist in the UK with the aim of building a better understanding of the beliefs people hold both between those communities and by the UK audiences as a whole.”

The Rt Rev Nicholas Baines, Lord Bishop of Leeds and Patron of the Trust said:

“The BBC has three Reithian ‘purposes’: inform, entertain, educate. I would like to propose a fourth: interpret. The world needs to be interpreted, not just reported. And to do this effectively, the lens of those being reported to needs to be looked through and understood. This means that religion needs to be taken seriously by the BBC in its future shape and remit. Religion is a prime motivator of individuals and communities, inspiring and informing their political, economic, ethical and social behaviour – probably also their emotional engagement with what is going on in the world and in them.”

For more information or interviews please contact: Anna McNamee, Executive Director: anna.mcnamee@sandfordawards.org.uk

28 November 2017

One of the Church of England’s first female bishops

takes the Chair of The Sandford St Martin Trust

The Sandford St Martin Trust is delighted to announce the appointment of the Bishop of Repton, the Right Reverend Jan McFarlane as its new Chair. In the role she will head the Trust’s work advocating and lobbying for religious literacy in broadcasting at industry, parliamentary and regulatory level, including overseeing the UK’s most prestigious awards for programmes exploring religion, ethics or spirituality.  She succeeds the Rt Rev Nick Baines, Lord Bishop of Leeds, who steps down following 9 years in role.

The Rt Rev Nick Baines said: “I am delighted to hand over The Sandford St Martin Trust baton to Jan McFarlane. She is experienced in the field of media and communications, and will apply herself to this new role with enthusiasm, vigour and wisdom. It has been a privilege to chair the Trust and I know it is now in the hands of an excellent new Chair. Jan’s skills and experience will help to take the Trust’s work even further in the coming years.”

On taking up the post, Jan McFarlane said: “I am very much looking forward to becoming Chair of the highly respected Sandford St Martin Trust. At a time when we need to understand and appreciate the role of faith in our world, and when we need to understand the similarities and differences between the major world religions, the need for excellence in religious broadcasting is greater than ever before.”

The Rt Revd Jan McFarlane was one of the Church of England’s first ten female bishops. She was educated first at Sheffield University, where she trained as a Speech and Language Therapist. She trained for ordination at Cranmer Hall, Durham. Bishop Jan was among the first women to be ordained to the priesthood in 1994 and she served in the Stafford Team Ministry before becoming Chaplain of Ely Cathedral from 1996 to 1999. She went on to become Director of Communications for the Diocese of Norwich for seventeen years, combining that role with those of Chaplain to the Bishop of Norwich and Archdeacon of Norwich. She served on the General Synod from 2005-2016 and helped to see through the vote allowing women to become bishops, despite undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer at the time.

Bishop Jan was consecrated by the Archbishop of Canterbury in June 2016, becoming the 9^th female bishop in the history of the Church of England. She is the Bishop of Repton, the assistant bishop serving Derbyshire. She has contributed to several books of prayer and reflection for Church House Publishing and broadcasts regularly on local radio.

The Sandford St Martin Trust is an independent, non-profit organisation. It has been making annual awards for the best programmes about religion, ethics and spirituality since 1978. The Trust engages with a wide range of media organisations as well as with individual journalists, filmmakers, broadcasters and other media figures, many of whom give their time and expertise voluntarily to support the Trust’s work. The Trust believes the media can be a powerful tool to increase understanding of different perspectives and beliefs in our world, helping create greater understanding, tolerance and thoughtfulness. The Trust is politically independent and is not affiliated with any media company or organisation.  It does not proselytise on behalf of or promote any particular religion or faith, nor does it engage in religious activities itself.

You can read more about the Trust at www.sandfordawards.org.uk

For more information:

Fiona Williams

fiona@hummingbird-communications.co.uk

7 June 2017

Comedy Actress Sally Phillips’ Down’s Syndrome Documentary is a Double Winner as BBC Programmes Dominate the Sandford St Martin 2017 Religious Broadcasting Awards

Actress Sally Phillips’ moving BBC Two documentary about Down’s Syndrome, A World Without Down’s Syndrome?, has picked up two awards at the Sandford St Martin Awards for religious broadcasting it was announced tonight at a star-studded ceremony at London’s Lambeth Palace.

Made by Dragonfly Film and Television and shown on BBC Two to public and critical acclaim in October 2016, the film saw Sally Phillips examine the implications for society of a new 99% accurate test for Down’s syndrome.  The programme won not only the award for best TV but also beat an eclectic list of nominations to snap up the Radio Times Readers’ Award, voted for by readers of the magazine.

Chair of the TV judging jury Daniel Pearl, Deputy Head of News and Current Affairs, Channel 4, said: “The judges found this deeply personal programme genuinely revelatory. It was a fresh approach to a subject we all thought we understood and both moved the judges and left us all feeling very different about the subject. It was beautifully made with wit and a lightness of touch.”

Tom Loxley, Executive Editor, Radio Times added: ‘This year’s Radio Times Readers’ shortlist tackled the fun, farce, fear and facts of human life in all its variety, complexity and ordinariness. But Sally Phillips’ one-off documentary stood out as a powerful and personal programme that demonstrated that ethical issues are never abstract, as she explored them through her relationship with her son, Olly.’

In the Radio category the winning programme was BBC Radio Wales’ All Things Considered – Aberfan 50 Year Anniversary.  Made by BBC Wales, Religious Programmes Team, the show saw Roy Jenkins examine how the disaster affected the lives and faith of the people in the small mining community of Aberfan.

From the Radio jury, journalist and editor Nicola Meyrick, said: “In the midst of so much coverage of the fiftieth anniversary, this beautifully-constructed, moving programme was all the more powerful for its thoughtful, quiet approach.”

Triumphing in the Interview category was BBC News’ Home Affairs Correspondent Dominic Casciani for An Extremist in the Family. Chair of the Interview jury, award-winning broadcaster Aasmah Mir, said: “The winning entry really made us all sit up and pay attention. It was original. Moving. Important. It drew us in and kept us listening. Another story of radicalisation but one that was told in an empathetic and engaging way while still remaining impartial and detached.”

The only non-BBC winner on the night was in the Children’s category, where CCTV Limited’s documentary for TrueTube.co.uk Refugee took the honours.  Chair of the Children’s jury, David Almond said:  “Amongst all the delights on offer within the shortlist, the judges felt that one entry – a drama – stood out for its insightful storytelling. It showed a family escaping from a war zone, becoming refugees. Along with an ambitious, action-packed script and clever use of flashbacks, it really does show how it would be if it happened to us and not to a ‘stranger’, not to another from another place. It brings the world into our own home.”

And, on a night of success for the BBC, the prestigious Trustees’ Award was presented to BBC Radio 4’s long-running discussion programme The Moral Maze.  James Purnell, the BBC’s Director of Radio and Education presented the award to the programme team and presenter Michael Buerk sent this message: “The Moral Maze is a very special part of the BBC. It’s a highest common factor programme in an increasingly lowest common denominator world. It’s a cockpit for live argument about the rights and the wrong of the burning issue of the week. There’s nothing quite like it even on marvellous Radio 4. I’m very proud of it.”

Commenting on the night, Rt. Rev Nick Baines, Lord Bishop of Leeds, the Trust’s Chairman said: “These winners emerge from a very strong field this year. They explore a range of matters of huge importance in how we want to shape and order our society. I am delighted that these winners do not close down an issue, but, rather, open up a much wider debate.”

The Sandford St Martin Awards are designed to promote excellence in religious broadcasting, and to champion distinctive journalism and programming that intelligently interprets the world through a religious lens. The Trust encourages and advocates for religious literacy by researching current trends and attitudes as well as providing training throughout the year.

THE 2017 AWARD RESULTS

TV Award:

Winner: A World Without Down’s Syndrome? – Dragonfly Film and Television for BBC 2

Runner Up: Life and Death the Pentecostal Way – BBC Studios (Religion & Ethics) for BBC 2

Radio Award:

Winner: All Things Considered – Aberfan 50 year anniversary: BBC Wales, Religious Programmes Team for BBC Radio Wales

Runner Up: Canada’s Atheist Minister: BBC Radio Production North for BBC World Service 

Interview Award

Winner: An Extremist in the Family – Dominic Casciani, Home Affairs Correspondent for BBC News

Runner Up: Out of the Silence – BBC Radio Production North for BBC World Service

Children’s Award

Winner:  Refugee – CTVC Ltd for TrueTube.co.uk

Runner up: Some Father’s Son – duckrabbit for Youtube/Facebook/Extreme Dialogue website

Radio Times Readers’ Award

Winner: A World Without Down’s Syndrome? – Dragonfly Film and Television for BBC 2

Trustees’ Award

Winner: BBC Radio 4’s The Moral Maze

For more information contact:

Fiona Williams

fiona@hummingbird-communications.co.uk

@hummbirdcomms

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22nd May 2017

BBC Radio 4’s Moral Maze to be presented with Trustees’ Award at the 2017 Sandford St Martin Religious Broadcasting Awards

BBC Radio 4’s long-running discussion programme The Moral Maze will pick up the coveted Trustees’ Award at the 2017 Sandford St Martin Awards for religious broadcasting it was announced today. The BBC’s Director of Radio and Education, James Purnell, will present the award at the star-studded awards ceremony, held at Lambeth Palace on Wednesday 7^th June.

Announcing the recipient of the Trustees’ Award, the Rt Rev Nick Baines, Lord Bishop of Leeds and the Trust’s Chair says: “We live in a complex world, and this programme takes these complexities seriously.  It also refuses to collude with the notion that all arguments must be reduced to the simplistic or the slogan.  Sometimes annoying, usually riveting, always worth the listen.”

The Moral Maze host Michael Buerk says: “The Moral Maze is a very special part of the BBC. It’s a highest common factor programme in an increasingly lowest common denominator world. It’s a cockpit for live argument about the rights and the wrong of the burning issue of the week. There’s nothing quite like it even on marvellous Radio 4. I’m very proud of it.”

Provocative and engaging, The Moral Maze has been examining the ethical issues behind the week’s news stories since 1990.  Presented by respected journalist and broadcaster Michael Buerk since its inception, the series calls upon an eclectic panel of regular contributors drawn from the worlds of religion, politics and journalism including Claire Fox, Giles Fraser, Anne McElvoy, Michael Portillo, Melanie Phillips and Matthew Taylor.  Previous panelists include Rabbi Hugo Gryn, Geoffrey Robertson, Michael Gove and David Starkey.

One of the highlights of the Sandford St Martin awards ceremony, the prestigious Trustees’ Award is presented to a recipient who has shown a long term or significant commitment to creating thought-provoking, distinctive programming that engages with religion of all faiths, ethics or morality.

The Sandford St Martin Awards are designed to promote excellence in religious broadcasting, and to champion distinctive journalism and programming that intelligently interprets the world through a religious lens. The Trust encourages and advocates for religious literacy through public consultations, by producing events and providing training in partnership with other organisations throughout the year.

There are six awards in total, including the Radio Times Readers’ Award, voted for by its readers, and the coveted Trustees Award. High profile entries into this year’s awards include some the year’s most talked about television including A World Without Down’s Syndrome (Dragonfly Film and Television) in which actress and writer Sally Phillips examines the implications for society of a new 99% accurate test for Down’s Syndrome, and Children on the Frontline: The Escape (ITN Productions for Channel 4), a powerful film about the Syrian civil war capturing the span of these tragic events. Voting for the Radio Times Readers’ Award closes on 23rd May. To vote log on to radiotimes.com.

For more information contact

Fiona Williams

fiona@hummingbird-communications.co.uk

@hummbirdcomms

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17 March 2017

BBC TV and Radio dominate shortlists for the Sandford St Martin 2017 Religious Broadcasting Awards

The BBC takes a commanding lead in the 2017 shortlists for the annual Sandford St Martin Awards for religious broadcasting.  In a week when concerns were voiced about the BBC’s potential loss of specialist religious expertise with Avanti Media and Nine Lives Media winning the tender for Songs of Praise, fifteen of the 24 productions featured on the prestigious award shortlists for 2017 are made by the BBC.

 Announcing the shortlist Rt. Rev Nick Baines, Lord Bishop of Leeds, the Trust’s Chairman says, “We are heartened to see such a high calibre and broad range of entries across all categories, with outstanding programmes on TV, Radio and online covering many of the challenging issues facing society. This year has also seen an unprecedented number of entries, representing a 25% increase on last year. 

 “The shortlisting panels were primarily looking for boldness, originality and impact, with presenters and contributors who enlighten as well as entertain and, most importantly, programmes which engage with their target audience.

 “With religious broadcasting again the focus of public debate, the work of the Trust and the significance of these prestigious awards is as important as ever.”

 The TV award category includes some of the year’s most talked about television including A World Without Down’s Syndrome (Dragonfly Film and Television) in which actress and writer Sally Phillips examines the implications for society of a new 99% accurate test for Down’s Syndrome, and Children on the Frontline: The Escape (ITN Productions for Channel 4), a powerful film about the Syrian civil war capturing the span of these tragic events.

 The Sandford St Martin Awards are designed to promote excellence in religious broadcasting, and to champion distinctive journalism and programming that intelligently interprets the world through a religious lens. The Trust encourages and advocates for religious literacy by researching current trends and attitudes as well as providing training throughout the year.

 There are six awards in total, including the Radio Times Faith Award, voted for by their readers, and the coveted Trustees Award. Entries for all the awards are welcomed for programmes exploring religion, ethics and spirituality as lived shapers of individual and community behaviour. The Trust encourages applications in any genre, from news and current affairs to children’s and comedy, as well as specifically ‘religious’ commissions.

 The awards recognise all faiths and take entries from any UK region. Judged by a panel of experienced journalists and broadcasters, the selected finalists, and the recipient of the Trustees Award, will be announced in May, with the winners announced on 7th June 2017 at a star-studded ceremony at Lambeth Palace.

For full details of all the programmes on the shortlists, click here.

For more information contact

Fiona Williams

fiona@hummingbird-communications.co.uk

@hummbirdcomms

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16  November 2016  

2017 Sandford St Martin Awards opens for entries

The Sandford St Martin Trust is calling for entries to the UK’s most prestigious awards for radio, TV and online content exploring religious, spiritual or ethical themes.

Applications are encouraged from news, current affairs, drama, music, arts, children’s and comedy genres, as well as from specifically ‘religious’ commissions.  Stephen Fry’s controversial interview for RTE in which he denounced God as “utterly evil, capricious and monstrous” was one of the programmes shortlisted for an Award in 2016.

Defending the place of programmes that challenge as well as support faith among those recognized by the Awards, Anna McNamee, Executive Secretary of the Trust said: “Religion plays a key role in some of the world’s biggest issues today.  Through recognising programmes that effectively explore those big questions encompassed by religion and ethics, who we are and why we’re here, the Sandford St Martin Awards aim to highlight the growing importance of understanding people from all perspectives.”

Bishop Nick Baines, Chair of the Trust said: “Religion is a prime motivator of individuals and communities, inspiring and informing their political, economic, ethical and social behaviour.  In addition to raising awareness of the different cultures and alternative viewpoints that make up UK society, broadcasters should reflect and interpret the many religious communities that exist in the UK with the aim of building a better understanding of the beliefs people hold both between those communities and by UK audiences as a whole.”

Speaking at the 2016 Awards ceremony, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby called on broadcasters to treat religion “with the same seriousness as other genres like sport, politics, economics or drama.” The promotion of religious literacy, he said “should be a specific duty.”

The deadline for entries is Friday 3 February 2017. Winners will be announced at a special ceremony at Lambeth Palace on Wednesday, June 7th 2017.

For details on how to enter, go to https://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/2017-entry/

For more information please contact:

Anna McNamee (Executive Secretary):   020 7898 1796

anna.mcnamee@sandfordawards.org.uk 

Website: https://sandfordawards.org.uk/

Twitter: @sandfordawards

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SandfordStMartinTrust/

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6 June 2016

Archbishop of Canterbury calls on BBC to “take religion seriously”

In a keynote speech to be delivered on June 8th, the Rt Rev Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury will call on the BBC to treat religion “with the same seriousness as other genres like sport, politics, economics or drama”.

“The promotion of religious literacy should be a specific duty for the BBC across its broadcasting services” the Archbishop of Canterbury will say referring to last month’s white paper on the BBC.  “BBC charter renewal, and questions about the ownership of Channel 4, have focused to some extent on the diversity of people who make up our islands and who constitute the audience of our great broadcasting institutions.  But if diversity is to mean anything, it must mean more than differences in ethnicity or personal tastes… True diversity also means paying proper attention to religion.”

The comments will form part of a speech made to open the 2016 Sandford St Martin Awards ceremony at Lambeth Palace.  Established in 1978, the Awards recognise the best broadcast programmes about religion, ethics and spirituality broadcast in the UK.

Roger Bolton, a Sandford St Martin trustee and the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s ‘Feedback’ programme said: “We are concerned that while the Corporation continues to broadcast some excellent religion and ethics programmes, in the light of proposals recently made in the Government White Paper that the BBC does not have a clear strategy for supporting the genre in the future.  There is no one in the corporation with overall responsibility for religion. Can the BBC give assurances that it will invest in the specialist knowledge and expertise necessary for religion to be given proper priority?”

The Rt Rev Nicholas Baines, Lord Bishop of Leeds and the Chair of the Trust said “Religion is a prime motivator of individuals and communities, inspiring and informing their political, economic, ethical and social behaviour.   So we’d like to propose an addition to the public purposes proposed by the white paper.  In addition to ‘raising awareness of the different cultures and alternative viewpoints that make up (UK) society’ we propose that the BBC should reflect and interpret the many religious communities that exist in the UK with the aim of building a better understanding of the beliefs people hold both between those communities and by UK audiences as a whole.”

You can read a transcript of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s address here.

Or listen to a recording here.

12 May 2016

Sandford St Martin Trust response to Government BBC Charter White Paper

While the Sandford St Martin Trust welcomes the white paper proposals to cement on- and off-screen diversity measures, we would ask the Government to be clear that diversity includes full representation of faith and faith minorities.

Roger Bolton, a Sandford St Martin trustee said: “We regret that in the revised public purposes of the BBC there is no specific reference to promoting religious literacy which we believe is vital for the future wellbeing of society, and we urge the government to think again.”

The Trust believes that the BBC’s existing coverage, though valued, needs significant improvement, and would advocate the introduction of a new public purpose for the BBC which would be “Promoting religious literacy: BBC audiences can rely on the BBC to reflect the many religious communities that exist in the UK with the aim of building a better understanding of the beliefs people hold both between those communities and by the UK audiences as a whole.”

The Rt Rev Nicholas Baines, Lord Bishop of Leeds and the Chair of the Trust said: “The BBC has three Reithian ‘purposes’: inform, entertain, educate. I would like to propose a fourth: interpret. The world needs to be interpreted, not just reported. And to do this effectively, the lens of those being reported to needs to be looked through and understood. This means that religion needs to be taken more seriously by the BBC in its future shape and remit. Religion is a prime motivator of individuals and communities, inspiring and informing their political, economic, ethical and social behaviour – probably also their emotional engagement with what is going on in the world and in them.”

For more information or interviews please contact:

Anna McNamee: anna.mcnamee@sandfordawards.org.uk

Direct line: 0789 980 0758

 

Twitter: @sandfordawards

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SandfordStMartinTrust

Website: www.sandfordawards.org.uk

 

 

 

21 March 2016

Shortlists for 2016 Sandford St Martin Awards announced 

Stephen Fry’s controversial interview in which he denounces God as “utterly evil, capricious and monstrous”, Tony Jordan’s Eastenders-meets-the-Old-Testament version of The Ark and Lyse Doucet’s searing documentary Children of the Gaza War are just three of the programmes that have been shortlisted for 2016 Sandford St Martin Awards – the UK’s most prestigious prize for radio, TV and online content that explores religious, spiritual or ethical themes.

The Rt Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds and Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust, says that celebrating excellence in religious broadcasting is particularly important in this year of BBC Charter renewal and amid rumours regarding a possible privatisation of Channel 4:

“The world needs to be interpreted, not just reported. And to do this effectively, the lens of those being reported to needs to be looked through and understood. This means that religion needs to be taken more seriously by the BBC in its future shape and remit.  Religion is a primary motivator of individuals and communities, inspiring and informing their political, economic, ethical and social behaviour.”

Lyse Doucet, the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent and a former recipient of the Sandford St Martin Trustees Award, said:

“Religion, and belief in general, is one of the most important threads in some of the big issues of our time. People’s faith is, in some places, divisive and destructive but in others it is a source of strength and solidarity. The Awards recognize the growing importance of understanding all faiths and people of no faith.” 

Winners of the 2016 awards will be announced at a special ceremony being held at Lambeth Palace on 8 June 2016.

Full shortlists follow with links to programmes available on www.sandfordawards.org.uk

For all press enquiries, please contact:

Sarah Parfitt (PR Consultant): 0207 898 1796. Mob: 07900 4117 15

sarah.parfitt@sandfordawards.org.uk

2016 Sandford St Martin Award Shortlists 

TV Shortlist 

A DEADLY WARNING: SREBRENICA REVISITED (BBC Religion and Ethics for BBC One)

BAZ: THE LOST MUSLIM (PART 2) (Brown Bread Films Ltd for RTÉ2)

GENIUS OF THE ANICENT WORLD: BUDDHA (BBC Religion and Ethics for BBC Four)

JOAN OF ARC: GOD’S WARRIOR (Matchlight Limited for BBC Two)

MUSLIM DRAG QUEEN (Swan Films for Channel 4)

MY SON THE JIHADI (True Vision Productions for Channel 4)

SONGS OF PRAISE (FROM THE CALAIS JUNGLE) (BBC Religion and Ethics for BBC One)

THE ARK (Red Planet Pictures for BBC One)

Radio Shortlist 

DIVIDED IN DEATH (HEART AND SOUL) (Whistledown Productions for BBC World Service)

GROWING UP IN MULTI-FAITH BRITAIN (FAITH IN THE WORLD WEEK) (BBC Religion & Ethics Radio

for BBC Radio 2)

IN SEARCH OF MODERATE MUSLIMS (Whistledown Productions for BBC Radio 4)

NOT NOW (Radio Drama, BBC Radio Scotland for BBC Radio 4)

OBJECTIONS AT THE WEDDING (HEART AND SOUL) (Whistledown Productions for BBC World Service)

RAMADAN EXPRESS (CTVC for www.thingsunseen.co.uk)

SHOAH IN JERUSALEM (Open Audio for BBC Radio 4)

THE LOST CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST (WITNESS) (BBC World Service for BBC World Service)

Children’s Shortlist 

7/7 (CTVC Ltd for TrueTube.co.uk)

EXTREMISTS (CTVC Ltd for TrueTube.co.uk)

FOR THE SAKE OF THE CHILD (CTVC Ltd for TrueTube.co.uk)

HIROSHIMA: A NEWSROUND SPECIAL (Newsround – CBBC)

KATIE (CTVC Ltd for TrueTube.co.uk)

MR ALZHEIMERS AND ME (MY LIFE) (Tigerlily Productions for CBBC)

SLEEPING LIONS (Libra Television / David & Goliath for BBC Two)

THE BOY ON THE BICYCLE (MY LIFE) (Drummer Television for CBBC)

Interview of the Year Shortlist

A MOTHER’S GOOD FRIDAY: DIANE FOLEY (CTVC for www.thingsundseen.co.uk)

A THOUSAND WORDS: GAVIN MERRIFIELD (GRF Christian Radio for www.smallvoice.org.uk)

DAVID SCHNEIDER TALKS TO PALLIATIVE CARE CONSULTANT KATHRYN MANNIX (ONE TO ONE)

(BBC Radio and Music Factual for BBC Radio 4)

TRAVELLERS’ TALES: HANNAH SCOTT-JOYNT TALKS TO JOHN FIELDSEND (TBI Media for Premier Radio)

THE MEANING OF LIFE, WITH GAY BYRNE: STEPHEN FRY (RTÉ Religious Programmes for RTÉ One)

TRAVELLERS’ TALES: HANNAH SCOTT-JOYNT TALKS TO STU HALLAM (TBI Media for Premier Radio)

THE CHEF (PM) (BBC News for BBC Radio 4 PM Programme)

Radio Times Faith Award (voted for by readers of the Radio Times)

THE ARK (BBC One)
SONGS OF PRAISE FROM THE JUNGLE, CALAIS (BBC One)
CALL THE MIDWIFE (BBC One)

A SONG FOR JENNY (BBC One)
DAVID SUCHET IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF ST PETER (BBC One)
CHILDREN OF THE GAZA WAR (BBC Two)

EDITORS’ NOTES 

• The Awards  

The awards are open to a wide range of genres – news, current affairs, factual, arts, music, drama and comedy as well as “traditional” religious broadcasting – and are open to programmes about any faith. Winners are selected by specially chosen of media professionals. Entries for the 2016 Awards must have been broadcast for the first time between 1 January and 31 December 2015.

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on 8 June 2016 at Lambeth Palace, London. Full criteria for the awards are available on the website: https://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/2016-awards/.

Readers of the Radio Times can also vote for their favourite religious television programme in the Radio Times Faith Award up until 8 May 2016. The shortlist has just been published: http://www.radiotimes.com/win/vote-in-radio-times-faith-award-2015/354.html.

• The Sandford St Martin Trust  

The Sandford St Martin Trust is an independent, non-profit organisation. It has been making annual awards for the best programmes about religion, ethics and spirituality since 1978.

The Trust engages with a wide range of media organisations and individual journalists, filmmakers, broadcasters and other media figures, many of whom give their time and expertise voluntarily to support the Trust’s work. The Trust believes the media can be a powerful tool to increase understanding of different perspectives and beliefs in our world, helping create greater understanding, tolerance and thoughtfulness.

You can read more about the Trust at www.sandfordawards.org.uk

• Previous Award Winners  

Previous winners have included Lyse Doucet, Professor Simon Schama, Danny Boyle, Ian Hislop, Howard Jacobson, David Suchet, Rageh Omaar, Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander, Sally Magnusson, Tony Robinson and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.

16 November 2015

2016 Sandford St Martin Trust Awards now open for entries with a new Interview of the Year category

The Sandford St Martin Trust is now calling for entries to the UK’s most prestigious annual broadcast awards for radio, TV and online content exploring religious, spiritual or ethical themes. Entries are welcome from people working across the broadcast media – producers, broadcasters, online content creators and publishers.

The BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet, winner of the 2015 Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Award, said: “Religion, and belief in general, is one of the most important threads in some of the big issues of our time. The Awards recognize the growing importance of understanding all faiths and people of no faith. They highlight the most compelling stories to help ensure they reach the widest audiences possible.”

The new Interview of the Year Award category is for a broadcast TV, Radio or online interview that explores religion, spirituality or ethics from a personal perspective. This could be with a leading religious figure or an ordinary person.

Referring to the new category, Sandford St Martin trustee and broadcaster Roger Bolton, said: “We recognise that it is difficult for non-national network programmes to compete against the usually better resourced national output. The Interview of the Year Award aims to give everyone an equal chance. The focus will not be on the eminence of the interviewee or interviewer, but on the quality of the interview, the religious and ethical expertise and the sensitivity it displays.”

The 2016 Awards, worth around £10,000, will be presented at Lambeth Palace on Wednesday, June 8^th 2016 at a ceremony attended by leading broadcasters, journalists and programme-makers as well as representatives of different faiths.

Previous winners have included Simon Schama, Danny Boyle, Ian Hislop, Howard Jacobson, David Suchet, Rageh Omaar, Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander, Sally Magnusson, Tony Robinson and Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks.

The deadline for entries is Friday, February 5^th 2016.

For details on how to apply, go to www.sandfordawards.org.uk

For more information please contact:

Sarah Parfitt (PR and Communications):  07900 4117 15
 sarah.parfitt@sandfordawards.org.uk

 

EDITORS’ NOTES  

1) The Awards

The following award categories are now open for entries:

• Sandford St Martin Trust Children’s Award
• Sandford St Martin Trust Television Award
• Sandford St Martin Trust Radio Award
• Sandford St Martin Trust Interview of the Year Award

Entries for the 2016 Awards must have been broadcast for the first time between 1 January and 31 December 2015.

The deadline for entries is Friday 5^th February 2016.

There is also a ‘Radio Times’ Faith Award which is chosen by readers of the magazine from a shortlist of programmes chosen by Radio Times critics and published in the magazine at Easter.

Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on 8^th June 2016 at Lambeth Palace, London.

Entry forms and full criteria for the awards are available on the website: https://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/2016–awards/ 

2) The Sandford St Martin Trust

The Sandford St Martin Trust is an independent, non-profit organisation. It has been making annual awards for the best programmes about religion, ethics and spirituality since 1978.

The Trust engages with a wide range of media organisations and individual journalists, filmmakers, broadcasters and other media figures, many of whom give their time and expertise voluntarily to support the Trust’s work. This includes contributing to ongoing public consultations and debates on the future of broadcasting – The Trust’s most recent submission, to the BBC Trust’s consultation on Charter renewal can be read here:  https://sandfordawards.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/Sandford-St-Martin-response-to-BBC-Charter-review-Consultation_2015_11_05.pdf

The Trust believes the media can be a powerful tool to increase understanding of different perspectives and beliefs in our world, helping create greater understanding, tolerance and thoughtfulness.

You can read more about the Trust at www.sandfordawards.org.uk

3) 2015 Award Winners

TV WINNER: ONE MILLION DUBLINERS (Underground Films for RTÉ 1)

TV RUNNER-UP: MARVELLOUS (Fifty Fathoms & Tiger Aspect for BBC Two)

RADIO WINNER: NO DESTINATION (Reel Soul Movies for BBC Radio 4)

RADIO RUNNER-UP: FOR THE LOVE OF GOD (BBC Asian Network/BBC News for BBC Asian Network)

CHILDREN’S WINNER: CHILDREN OF THE HOLOCAUST (Fettle Animation for BBC Two)

RUNNER-UP: CHILDREN OF KABUL: AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE – NEWSROUND SPECIAL (CBBC Productions for CBBC)

2015 TRUSTEES’ AWARD: LYSE DOUCET, the BBC’s chief international correspondent

2015 RADIO TIMES FAITH AWARD:  GRANTCHESTER (Lovely Day/Masterpiece for ITV)

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May 13, 2015

BBC Journalist Lyse Doucet to receive 2015 Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Award

It has been announced that the BBC’s Chief International Correspondent, Lyse Doucet, is to receive a prestigious Sandford St Martin Trustees’ Award for raising the profile of religion in the media.  Doucet will be presented with the prize by James Harding, Director of BBC News and Current Affairs, in a special ceremony at Lambeth Palace on May 27^th.

James Harding said “It is a special privilege for me to be able to present this award.  Lyse Doucet is one of the great treasures of BBC News – and I think of journalism across the world – and this gives us a chance to acknowledge the extraordinary importance of her work.  This Sandford St Martin award recognises the profound influence of religion on the world we live in and Lyse has fearlessly brought us greater understanding of religion from some of the most perilous places on the planet.  She is a more than worthy recipient of this great honour and I’m very glad to have this opportunity to recognise her immense achievement.”

In more than 30 years as a foreign correspondent, Doucet has reported from the frontlines of some of the world’s most dangerous trouble spots including a leading role in the BBC’s coverage of the Arab Spring and more recently the on-going conflicts in Gaza, Syria and Northern Iraq.  Last April she was granted an in-depth and exclusive interview with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby during his visit to meet political and religious leaders in Egypt.

“We are delighted to be giving Lyse our special award for her commitment to journalism and her intelligent and clear reporting of the religious elements of global events,” said the Rt Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds and Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust. “In the fast-moving and pressurised world of news reporting, this is no mean task and she has given clarity to situations of great complexity and conflict.”

When she was told of the Award Doucet said “I am very touched that the Sandford St Martin Trust deems my work deserving of this. It has been the most extraordinary privilege to work in so many countries and cultures, but this has also brought a responsibility to tell these stories as well as possible, and to understand people of all faiths and people of no faith. As journalists we hope our work helps bring a wider understanding, if not empathy to our world.”

In response to news of the award the BBC’s Religious Correspondent, Caroline Wyatt said: “I think that Lyse deserves the award more than anyone I can think of for her sustained, honest and accurate reporting of some of the biggest stories of our times.

She is a colleague with immense generosity of soul and spirit, and an inspiration to us all.”

For interviews or images please contact:

Sarah Parfitt: sarah.parfitt@sandfordawards.org.uk

Direct line: 07900 4117 15

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

Lyse Doucet

Doucet grew up in Bathurst, eastern Canada where religion was an integral part of everyday life.

From 1983 to 1988, she worked as a freelancer in West Africa for the Canadian media and for the BBC.

She is a regular presenter for BBC World News TV and on World Service Radio.

Doucet has four honorary doctorates from leading Canadian universities as well as from the University of York in Britain.

In April 2014 Doucet was awarded an OBE in recognition for her services to British broadcasting.

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2 February 2015

Leading broadcast awards organisation, the Sandford St Martin Trust raises alarm over BBC TV restructure

The Sandford St Martin Trust has responded to the news that four top jobs in BBC Factual Commissioning are being closed by questioning whether the broadcaster is in danger of undermining vital religious programming.

The Rt Rev Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds said “At a time when it is impossible to understand the modern world – its politics, economics, military and humanitarian events – without understanding religion, why isn’t religion being prioritised by the BBC as needing expert commissioning?”

On 23 January the BBC announced that the specialist role of Commissioning Editor for Religion is to be closed.  This change, being overseen by Emma Swain, the controller of factual commissioning, will see religious programmes being commissioned by one new Commissioning Head of Specialist Factual who also will have responsibility for commissioning BBC TV’s science, business and history programmes.

“We are seeking assurances from the BBC that factual commissioning will retain the specialist knowledge and expertise necessary for religion to be given adequate priority” said the Bishop of Leeds.  “Will the new Commissioning Head of Specialist Factual be issued specific objectives and goals that will help ensure informed coverage of religion as a motivator and factor in local, national and world events?  And, if so, when will these become known?”

Roger Bolton, the BBC presenter and a Sandford St Martin Trustee, picking up on comments by the Bishop of Leeds said, “It’s the old problem: not taking religion seriously. For instance, why is there no BBC News Religion Editor to complement the Science, Economics, Business, Political, Financial, Arts and Sports Editors?”

ENDS

For more information please contact:

anna.mcnamee@sandfordawards.org.uk  

EDITORS’ NOTES

The Sandford St Martin Trust

The Sandford St Martin Trust is an independent, non-profit organisation. It has been making annual awards for the best programmes about religion, ethics and spirituality since 1978.   Recent winners include Simon Schama, Melvyn Bragg, Rageh Omaar, Ian Hislop, Danny Boyle and Frank Cotterell Boyce.

The Trust engages with a wide range of media organisations and individual journalists, filmmakers, broadcasters and other media figures, many of whom give their time and expertise voluntarily to support the Trust’s work. The Trust believes the media can be a powerful tool to increase understanding of different perspectives and beliefs in our world, helping create greater understanding, tolerance and thoughtfulness.

You can read more about the Trust at www.sandfordawards.org.uk

Nick Baines’ blog on the BBC restructure can be found here: https://sandfordawards.org.uk/with-a-restructure-in-the-offing-what-is-the-future-for-religion-at-the-bbc/

The BBC’s own coverage of the restructure can be found here:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/ariel/30953191

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August 2014

Journalist Anna McNamee takes up new religious broadcasting role

The Sandford St Martin Trust has appointed the award-winning broadcaster Anna McNamee as its first executive secretary, to lead its work promoting excellence in religious broadcasting.

As a producer and reporter on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, she won a Mental Health Media Award, and a programme she made for ITN and Channel Four won an Amnesty International Prize. She presented the daily arts programme The Strand on BBC World Service, where she also produced Reporting Religion.

Anna McNamee will take up the post this week when the Sandford St Martin Trust sponsors a session – God: TV’s Holy Grail? – at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. The speakers will include Polly Toynbee, vice-president of the British Humanist Association; Roger Bolton, Radio 4 presenter and Sandford trustee; Aaqil Ahmed, the BBC’s head of religion and ethics; Ralph Lee, Channel 4’s deputy chief creative officer; and Tony Jordan, screenwriter of Eastenders, Life on Mars, The Nativity and The Ark.

The Sandford St Martin Trust has been giving awards for the best programmes about religion, ethics and spirituality since 1978. This year’s top TV award was won by Professor Simon Schama for his BBC Two series The Story of the Jews, while two special awards were made to Melvyn Bragg and the late Sir John Tavener. Previous Sandford St Martin winners have included Danny Boyle, Ian Hislop, Howard Jacobson, David Suchet, Rageh Omaar, Olivia Colman, Tom Hollander, Sally Magnusson, Tony Robinson and Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks.

The chair of the Trust, the Rt Revd Nick Baines, Bishop of Leeds, said: “Despite predictions that religion would fade from modern life, we appear to be experiencing a resurgence of its role on the global stage. The Trust believes that broadcasters do their audiences a disservice if they ignore this, and is stepping up its efforts to encourage excellence in religious coverage across all programme genres. We’re delighted to announce Anna McNamee’s appointment, which comes at an important time for the Trust as it takes on the new role of advocate for more and better broadcasting about religion.”

Anna McNamee said: “It is with great excitement and enthusiasm that I am joining The Sandford St Martin Trust as it embarks on a new advocacy strategy for good religious broadcasting. As the organisation responsible for one of the UK’s most prestigious broadcasting awards, the Trust is in an excellent position to build and expand still further its already formidable connections and knowledge base. In the coming months we’ll be embarking on new and exciting projects, partnerships and collaborations with broadcasters and media organisations who, like the Trust, believe we live in complex and interesting times where understanding religion and spirituality are crucial to understanding our world and the people in it.”

For more information about photography or interviews , please contact:

Julia Lewis (PR and Communications)
Phone:   07730 499144
Email:    julia@sandfordawards.org.uk 

Rachel Viney
Phone:   07980 803969
Email:    rachel@vineyassociates.com

EDITOR’S NOTES

1) Anna McNamee biography

Anna McNamee is a Canadian journalist and writer. Between 2010 and 2013 she presented the BBC World Service’s daily arts radio programme The Strand and she continues to make and present programmes for both the World Service and Radio 4.

McNamee’s broadcast career began in Okayama, Japan where, between 1989–1991, she developed and presented a series of weekly educational programmes.

In 1992, McNamee moved to London where she worked as a freelance news researcher and producer for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). It was during this period that she joined forces with two independent TV production companies specialising in newsgathering from conflict zones and hard-to-access places. From 1992 to 1995 McNamee spent much of her time travelling between Europe, East Africa and Latin America reporting on and making programmes from, for instance, the front line of Sudan’s Civil War, post-genocide Rwanda, and, Haiti during the US intervention aimed at restoring the ousted President Aristide to power. The programme she made for ITN and Channel 4’s First Sex series on the use of rape as a weapon of war in Haiti won an Amnesty International Prize in 1995.

In 1996 McNamee joined Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour as a producer and reporter. Subsequently she has worked as a producer, reporter and presenter on a variety of BBC radio programmes including among others Reporting Religion (WS) and The Media Show (R4) and The Strand (WS).

Additional prizes include a Mental Health Media Award (for a Woman’s Hour investigative feature on sexual assault in mixed sex mental health wards which was subsequently quoted in Parliament) and the Glenfiddich Food and Drink Award (for a series on forgotten fruit and vegetables). She has also twice been shortlisted for One World Media Awards for programmes about gun crime in South Africa and female Jamaican drug mules serving time in UK prisons.

2) The Sandford St Martin Trust

The Sandford St Martin Trust has been making annual awards for the best programmes about religion since 1978. As well as continuing to raise the profile of broadcast religious coverage through its awards, from 2014 the Trust will be working year-round to make the case for excellence in broadcasting about religion, ethics and spirituality and to stimulate debate about what religious broadcasting is and why it matters in today’s world.

The appointment of an Executive Secretary and the sponsoring of a session at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival reflect this expansion of the Trust’s work.

You can read more about the Trust at www.sandfordawards.org.uk

3) God: TV’s Holy Grail?

This session will take place from 3.15pm to 4.15pm on Friday 22 August at the Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival. It is chaired by Sian Williams, the presenter of BBC One’s Sunday Morning Live. The panellists are: Polly Toynbee, Vice President, British Humanist Association; Roger Bolton, Presenter of Radio 4’s Feedback and Trustee, Sandford St Martin Trust; Ralph Lee, Deputy Chief Creative Officer, Channel 4; Aaqil Ahmed, Head of Religion and Ethics, BBC; Tony Jordan, Managing Director, Red Planet Pictures.

The debate is being sponsored and co-produced by the Sandford St Martin Trust, with the support of the Jerusalem Trust and PictureWise Productions. It will be followed by the Trust’s drinks reception for Festival delegates.

See GEITF programme: http://www.geitf.co.uk/programme/god-tvs-holy-grail.

Double triumph for Schama’s The Story of the Jews at religious broadcasting awards

Today (Tuesday 3 June 2014), the Sandford St Martin Trust announced that the BBC’s The Story of the Jews scooped two top accolades at its annual broadcast awards. ‘Over the Rainbow’ – episode four of the five-part series – won both the Sandford St Martin Television Award and the Radio Times Readers Award. The series, presented by Simon Schama and produced by Oxford Film and Television for BBC Two, took a personal look at 3,000 years of Jewish history.

The Radio Award was won by I Have a Dream, produced by BBC Scotland Features for BBC Radio 4. Introduced by Professor Clayborne Carson, editor of the Martin Luther King papers, the programme brought together well-known personalities to read portions of the famous speech delivered by Martin Luther King in 1963. Readers included: the late Maya Angelou, American author and Civil Rights activist; Doreen Lawrence, mother of murdered British teenager Stephen Lawrence; His Holiness the Dalai Lama; and Stevie Wonder, American musician, singer and songwriter.

The Trust’s new award for Local, Community and Online productions went to Sounds Jewish: The Jewish Revival in Poland, a podcast produced by JW3: Jewish Community Centre for London and broadcast by guardian.com. The story follows Denise Grollmus as she travels to Poland to search out her ancestral roots.

Broadcaster Melvyn Bragg received the Personal Award. Roger Bolton, trustee of the Sandford St Martin Trust, said he was being recognised for: “putting religion at the heart of human experience and exploring it in such a way that it has enriched public discourse for decades”.

The late Sir John Tavener was also recognised, with the Trustees’ Award, for “the outstanding contribution his music has made to raising spiritual awareness, building bridges between people of all faiths and none”.

Speaking about the awards, The Rt Rev Nick Baines, Bishop-elect of Leeds and Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust, said: “This year’s entrants were a true reflection of the quality and depth of religious broadcasting in this country.  While they all sought to illuminate, educate and entertain us, they also stretched our understanding – vital in the complex modern world.  More such broadcasting can only make us stronger as a society.”

See the Award Winners

See the full shortlist

For more information about photography, interviews or quotes from the judging panel, winners or trustees, please contact:

Julia Lewis (PR and Communications)
Phone:   07730 499144
Email:    julia@sandfordawards.org.uk 

Shortlist for Sandford St Martin Trust’s TV, Radio and Online Awards announced for 2014

Some of the country’s top programme-making talent has today been shortlisted for the UK’s most prestigious prizes for religious programming on television, radio and online – the Sandford St Martin Awards. See the full shortlist.

In Television, shortlisted films include episodes from series such as: Rageh Omaar’s ‘The Ottomans: Europe’s Muslim Emperors’ for BBC2; Simon Schama’s ‘The Story of the Jews’ uncovering life in Eastern European Shtetls, also for BBC2; ‘A Very British Ramadan’ from Channel 4’s series ‘4Ramadan’; ‘Wells’, from BBC4’s ‘Cathedrals’ series; a moving film about the Hillsborough disaster for BBC Religion & Ethics; and another about the dramatic history of Ulster’s Presbyterians for BBC2 Northern Ireland.

In Radio, the contenders include ‘A Road Trip to War’ on the BBC Asian Network, following British Muslims delivering aid to Syria; a thought-provoking look at the ups and downs of living alone, presented by Hardeep Singh Kohli on BBC Radio 2; ‘Mrs Livingstone I Presume’, about Mary, the wife of the great missionary and explorer, on Premier Radio; and Sir Mark Tully’s insightful account of the Maha Kumbh Mela, the largest religious festival in the world, for BBC Radio 4.

In the new Local, Community and Online category, the shortlist includes a YouTube video marking a 20-year campaign, challenging sexism and arguing for women’s ordination in the Roman Catholic Church; a Guardian podcast on the Jewish Revival in Poland; and a TrueTube video: ‘How Islam began – in ten minutes’. Local Bradford radio company, Whistling Frog, also secured a place with ‘Christmas Away Fans’ transmitted on Christmas Day.

The winners, who will share £10,000 in prize money, will be announced at a ceremony at Lambeth Palace, London, on Tuesday 3 June.

The awards will be presented by writer and broadcaster, Edward Stourton, who is chairing the TV judging panel, and author and playwright, Patrick Gale, chair of the radio and online panel.

Chair of the Sandford St Martin Trust, The Rt Rev Nick Baines, Bishop of Bradford and Bishop-designate for Leeds said:

“The media are vital in shaping how we see and understand the world. This brings huge responsibility and challenge, particularly in relation to how matters of religion and faith are represented. Our awards aim to recognise and reward quality broadcasting about religious, spiritual and ethical practices and issues.”

Now in its 36th year the Sandford St Martin Trust promotes excellence in religious broadcasting.

The awards are open to any programme on television or radio or an online platform dealing with religious, ethical or spiritual issues.

For more information, contact:
Julia Lewis – 07730 499144 | julia@sandfordawards.org.uk

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