(Nov. 7, 2014 - by Harold Goerzen)  A pair of non-English radio programs became finalists at the Jerusalem Awards 2014 in London Wednesday, Oct. 15, reflecting England’s changing demographics.

This was the second year in a row that Urdu-language programs produced at Reach Beyond-UK (formerly HCJB Global-UK) made the final cut. Last year was the first time a foreign-language program had been nominated in the 20-year history of the prestigious awards which promote Christian involvement in broadcasting.

While failing to capture any first-place awards, the two programs at this year’s event were among the three finalists in the Easter and Christmas categories.

“We were excited to be finalists in both categories, and our staff was very encouraged to continue making programs in the future,” said Colin Lowther, chief executive of Reach Beyond-UK, adding that the awards have been expanded to include video and digital communications in recent years.

The Urdu programs aired on an Asian radio station in Bradford called Sunrise Radio with a potential audience of 175,000 listeners in the Yorkshire area. “If you listen to that station, you’ll hear loads of Bollywood music and programs in languages such as Urdu, Hindi and Punjabi,” Lowther related.

According to the Joshua Project, the U.K. is now home to nearly 3.3 million South Asians with Urdu as their primary language. This group is being targeted by the Urdu programs as just 1.5 percent of the speakers are evangelical.

“Multicultural pluralism has replaced Judeo-Christian tradition as the foundation of [British] society,” states Operation World. “Minority religions, particularly Islam, receive notable attention and government support … yet they still feel discriminated against…. The U.K. itself is now a mission field.”

The Urdu programs considered by the judges at the Jerusalem Awards were produced by Shely Ganguly, a missionary seconded part-time to Reach Beyond-UK by Radio Worldwide (a ministry of WEC International).

The Easter entry featured a series of eight five-minute spots that played on each day of Holy Week (the programs that aired on Good Friday and Easter Sunday were slightly longer).

“The spots had humor in them, but they were more of a dramatic retelling of the events told in the Bible followed by a discussion,” Lowther recounted.

The Christmas entry was a 20-minute program called, “Who Wants to Be King?” “It was a parody of the ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’ television program that is tremendously popular in India,” Lowther explained. “They love that show over there. The program was patterned after the TV show with similar music and sound effects. We recreated them ourselves so they were slightly different, but it sounded like the real thing.”

In the program a number of contestants try to win various items, ranging from a bag of onions to a gold watch—the grand prize. “Each question drip-feeds the real events of Christmas,” Lowther said.

Just one contestant manages to the answer all of the questions correctly. “But it ends on a cliffhanger,” he continued. “The host asks, ‘Is that your final answer? Are you sure? We’ll find out after the break.’ But then you never find out what happened.”

Lowther said the staff at Sunrise Radio “loved the program and enjoyed playing it.” They’ve asked for more holiday-oriented programs in the future, and Ganguly is already working on a Christmas program that incorporates the East Indian custom of Mooh Dikhai in which the bride’s face is finally unveiled after the wedding ceremony.

“They do a similar thing at births at well, uncovering the face of the newborn baby,” he said. “We’ll tie in this custom with Christmas and Jesus’ birth, revealing His face.”

Lowther said he continues to be impressed by the quality and creativity of all those working on Reach Beyond-UK’s Whistling Frog Productions team.

The Urdu programs were selected as finalists in their categories alongside the work of producers from across Britain, including numerous entries from the BBC. As usual, competition was fierce with more than 150 entries being whittled down to a short list of 54 at the awards event.

Last year young Reach Beyond-UK radio producer Luke Haley garnered a first-place award in the “Under 25” category for his Christmas program.

“How encouraged we are that our material continues to place alongside the BBC and other groups with very large budgets,” Lowther said. “Our material resources are not big, but our creative ideas are up there with the best. Of course we credit God for giving us the creativity.”

Production team members specialize in making accessible spots of thoughtful, amusing Christian programs for mainstream commercial radio stations as well as offering training to up-and-coming producers.

Sources: Reach Beyond, Jerusalem Awards, Joshua Project, Operation World