To Lambeth Palace…

A new adventure coming up for us.  Made another prestigous shortlist!

We’re off to Lambeth Palace (the Archbishop of Canterbury’s place!) next week (27th May) for a Sandford St Martin’s Childrens Award, a celebration of ethical and religious broadcasting.

Our Children of the Holocaust films are in just incredible company – check out the shortlist. Our category includes films by CBBC, CBeebies, CVTC and Taylormation – all brilliant stuff.  So pleased to have been nominated and to have our work endorsed by such a well respected organisation.

In times that seem to have been becoming increasingly polarised between those with completely secular beliefs and those with rather more extreme religious views, I believe that religious broadcasting is an important bridge for those with differing views to come together to explore common ground.

Ever curious, I asked a little more of the organisers, who seem like a lovely bunch of people.

The Sandford St Martin Trust was set up approximately 35 years ago by the Wills family to reward  television and radio programmes of religious excellence. They have tried to move that towards moral, ethical and spiritual as well as religious over the years and some highly acclaimed programmes have won awards in the past.   Simon Schama the Story of the Jews : David Suchet, In the Footsteps of St Paul, and Tony Jordan for Nativity are among recent TV winners.

The Trust is governed by a group of Trustees who come from a variety of backgrounds, financial, PR, religious and programme makers.

Judging the awards must be a really tough call –  Broadcaster and journalist Sharmini Selvarajah said of the judging the children’s awards.

Although I was interested in religion throughout my childhood and teenage years, I don’t remember ever being engaged with religious ideas at school, or through the mainstream media.

Shortlisting entries for the new Sandford St Martin Children’s Prize has shown me how much things have changed though. The experience opened my eyes to the diversity and quality of children’s broadcasting on religious issues. Unlike the worthy, and usually boring, videos we were shown at school, these entries spoke directly to young people, informing them without being patronising.

I was particularly impressed with the high production values of many of the submissions. It’s true that some came from big production companies, but many of the specialist films aimed at schools were beautifully made with limited resources

Looking forward to a fabulous evening.

Trains, hotels all booked.

Now, what to wear? … time to go shopping I think!