A FILM about anti-Muslim violence in India, documentaries on the impact of The Satanic Verses over the past 30 years, and a grieving father’s conversion to Christianity are among the religious programmes shortlisted for the 2020 Sandford St Martin Awards.
The Sandford St Martin Trust is an independent, non-profit organisation that honours excellence in broadcasting on religion, ethics, and spirituality. The winners are usually announced at a ceremony at Lambeth Palace, but this year they are due to be announced during an event streamed online, on 11 June.
On the shortlist for the TV/video category is The Satanic Verses: 30 years on, by Vice Studios, for BBC2: a documentary that examines the impact that Salman Rushdie’s novel had on Muslims in Britain, and the questions that it poses about free speech. Programmes shortlisted in the radio/audio category included A Bright Yellow Light for Radio 4, which explored the religious conversion of Nadim Ednan-Laperouse after the death of his daughter from a peanut allergy (Media, 3 January).
The Hour of Lynching, which was shortlisted in the broadcast journalism category, is a 19-minute documentary from The Guardian about violence inflicted on Muslims in India by Hindu nationalists. The film examines the impact on Muslim families, and the efforts that politicians and lynch mobs will make to legitimise the murders.
Others in the shortlist in this category include How a Conference Call Sparked America’s Abortion Obsession, also by The Guardian, and Heart and Soul: Jewish and returning to Germany (BBC World Service).
Shortlisted in the children’s broadcasting category was Finding My Family: Holocaust — A Newsround Special, for CBBC and iPlayer, and Hijab and Me, for the website TrueTube.co.uk, a short documentary in which three Muslim women give their views on the hijab.
This month, the Radio Times announced the shortlist for its annual RT Readers’ Award, which is part of the Sandford St Martin awards: The Archers (Radio 4); How the Other Kids Live (Channel 4); Miriam’s Dead Good Adventure (BBC 2); Good Omens (Amazon Prime); Three Vicars Talking (Radio 4); and Peter Taylor: My journey through the Troubles (BBC 2).
Voting is at this link, until 1 May.