Movieguide Awards Shortlist

By Dan WoodingASSIST News Service Dr. Ted Baehr, founder and publisher of Movieguide®, the family guide to movies and entertainment, announced today the nominees for the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for the Most Inspiring Movie of 2011 and the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for the Most Inspiring TV Program of 2011

According to a news release, the winners will be announced this Friday, Feb. 10, at the 20th Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala, to be held at the Universal Hilton Hotel in Universal City, in the heart of Hollywood.

The nominees for the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring Movie are (in alphabetical order with major distributor):

Courageous – Sony
Justin Bieber: Never Say Never – MTV/Paramount
Of Gods and Men – Sony Pictures Classics
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – Disney
Seven Days in Utopia – Visio Entertainment
Soul Surfer – Sony
The Tree of Life – Fox Searchlight

The nominees for the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring TV Program are (in alphabetical order with major distributor or network):

A Christmas Wish – The Hallmark Channel
A Princess for Christmas – The Hallmark Channel
Buck Denver Asks. . . Why Do We Call It Christmas? – EMI
Donata Wenders – ASTRA Satellite
KJB: The Book that Changed the World – BBC Two
Love Begins – The Hallmark Channel
Mitch Albom’s Have a Little Faith – Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions
The Lost Valentine – Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions

The Epiphany Prizes, supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, are given every year to the best, most inspiring movie and television program that resulted in a “great increase in man’s love or understanding of God.”

The winners will be announced this Friday, Feb. 10, at the 20th Annual Faith & Values Awards Gala and Report to the Entertainment Industry, also known as the “Teddy Bear Awards.”

The John Templeton Foundation serves as a philanthropic catalyst for discoveries relating to the Big Questions of human purpose and ultimate reality. The Foundation supports research on subjects ranging from complexity, evolution, and infinity to creativity, forgiveness, love, and free will. It encourages civil, informed dialogue among scientists, philosophers, and theologians and between such experts and the public at large, for the purposes of definitional clarity and new insights. The Foundation's vision is derived from the late Sir John Templeton's optimism about the possibility of acquiring “new spiritual information” and from his commitment to rigorous scientific research and related scholarship. The Foundation's motto, “How little we know, how eager to learn,” exemplifies its support for open-minded inquiry and its hope for advancing human progress through breakthrough discoveries.

Dr. Baehr is chairman of the Christian Film & Television Commission® (CFTVC) and its family guide to movies and entertainment, Movieguide®. CFTVC and Movieguide® are an international non-profit ministry dedicated to “redeeming the values of the entertainment industry by influencing industry executives and by informing and equipping the public about the influence of the entertainment media.”