<div dir="ltr">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.<br><br>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.<br><br>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."<br><br>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."<br><br>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.”<br><br><b>The deadline for entries is Friday 3 February 2017</b>. Winners will be announced at a special ceremony at Lambeth Palace on Wednesday, June 7th 2017.<br><br>For details on how to enter, go to: <a href="http://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/2017-entry/">http://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/2017-entry/</a><br><br>For more information please contact:<br><br>Anna McNamee (Executive Secretary): 020 7898 1796 or 0789 980 0758<br><a href="mailto:anna.mcnamee@sandfordawards.org.uk">anna.mcnamee@sandfordawards.org.uk</a><br>Website: <a href="http://sandfordawards.org.uk/">http://sandfordawards.org.uk/</a><br>Twitter: @sandfordawards<br>Facebook: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/SandfordStMartinTrust/">https://www.facebook.com/SandfordStMartinTrust/</a><br><br>EDITORS’ NOTES<br><br>1) The Awards <br><br>The following award categories are now open for entries:<br><ul><li>Sandford St Martin Television Award </li><li>Sandford St Martin Radio Award </li><li>Sandford St Martin Children’s Award </li><li>Sandford St Martin Interview Award</li></ul>Entries for the 2017 Awards must have been broadcast for the first time between 1 January and 31 December 2016. <br>Entry forms and full criteria for the awards are available on the website: <a href="http://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/2017-entry/">http://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/2017-entry/</a><br>The deadline for entries is Friday 3rd February 2017.<br><br>2) The Sandford St Martin Trust <br><br>The Sandford St Martin Trust is an independent, non-profit organisation. It has been making annual awards for the best<br>programmes about religion, ethics and spirituality since 1978. <br><br>The Trust engages with a wide range of media organisations and individual journalists, filmmakers, broadcasters and other media<br>figures, many of whom give their time and expertise voluntarily to support the Trust’s work. This includes contributing to and<br>participating in conferences, festivals and training as well as on-going public consultations and debates on the future<br>of broadcasting<br><br>You can read more about the Trust at <a href="http://sandfordawards.org.uk">http://sandfordawards.org.uk</a><br><br>3) 2016 Awards<br><br>Information about the 2016 Sandford St Martin Awards, judges, full shortlists and links to winning programmes can be found here:<br><br><a href="http://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/2016-awards/">http://sandfordawards.org.uk/the-awards/2016-awards/</a><br><br>2016 winners were:<br><ul><li>TV WINNER: MY SON THE JIHADI (True Vision Productions for Channel 4)</li><li>TV RUNNER-UP: BAZ THE LOST MUSLIM (Brown Bread Films for RTE2)</li><li>RADIO WINNER: OBJECTIONS AT THE WEDDING (Whistledown Productions for BBC World Service) </li><li>RADIO RUNNER-UP: NOT NOW (BBC Radio Scotland for BBC Radio 4)</li><li>CHILDREN’S WINNER: THE BOY ON THE BICYCLE (Drummer Television for CBBC)</li><li>RUNNER-UP: MR ALZHEIMERS AND ME (Tigerlily Productions for CBBC)</li><li>INTERVIEW AWARD: A MOTHER’S GOOD FRIDAY: DIANE FOLEY (CTVC for <a href="http://thingsunseen.co.uk">thingsunseen.co.uk</a>)</li><li>INTERVIEW RUNNER-UP: TRAVELLERS’ TALES: HANNAH SCOTT-JOYNT TALKS TO STU HALLAM (TBI Media for Premier</li><li>Radio)</li><li>2016 TRUSTEES’ AWARD: JOAN BAKEWELL (author, journalist and broadcaster).</li><li>2016 RADIO TIMES READERS AWARD: CALL THE MIDWIFE (Neal Street Productions for BBC One)</li></ul>\\<br><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Community Media Association<br>-- <br><a href="http://www.commedia.org.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.commedia.org.uk/</a><br><a href="http://twitter.com/community_media" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/community_media</a><br><a href="https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation" target="_blank">https://www.facebook.com/CommunityMediaAssociation</a><br><br>Canstream Internet Radio & Video<br><a href="http://www.canstream.co.uk/" target="_blank">http://www.canstream.co.uk/</a><br><a href="https://twitter.com/canstream" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/canstream</a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<div dir="ltr"><br></div></div>