NEW YORK — Faith & Values Media, the nation’s largest coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith groups dedicated to media production, distribution and promotion, has chosen the winners for its 2008 member productions grants.

The awards were given to Faith & Values Media members whose productions showed an innovative use of broadcast and digital media, as well as engaging subject matter that is meant to be informative, educational and thought provoking.  The productions that were awarded these grants are in various stages of development.

The 2008 Production Grants, totaling $300,000, were awarded to the following projects:

Chicago Sunday Evening Club, “30 Good Minutes Personal Faith Segments.” This is a series of short form documentaries on topics of personal faith, featuring people from a wide spectrum of religious traditions and demographics, including Christian, Jewish and Muslim subjects.

Inner-Attainment TV, Inc., “Living Islam in America.” Currently in development, this television series will educate the general population about the faith and culture of Islam and the burgeoning Muslim communities throughout America.

Interfaith Voices, “Why It Makes a Difference: Public Figures on Their Faith.”  This is a series of intimate radio interviews that will feature high-profile celebrities from all walks of life, from newsmakers like Bill Moyers and Al Gore to film and television stars like Rainn Wilson and Martin Sheen.  All will be people for whom faith — or doubt — has fundamentally shaped the way they live today.

Maryknoll Electronic Communications Office,  “Execution Chronicles.”  A series of short form Internet videos that will focus on the bereaved family of Vasudev Patel, as they share their feelings about losing him and profess bafflement that he left his home in India because of ethnic and religious intolerance – only to be destroyed by it in the U.S. when a hate-filled killer mistook him for an Arab Muslim in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Mennonite Media, “RX for Families.” This will be a 15-minute weekly radio program speaking to the real and practical issues and difficulties facing families and individuals in North America.  The program will feature an interview with an individual or family experiencing the pain of broken relationships, grief over the loss of a loved one, anger and disappointment from unresolved conflict, difficulty over tough parenting issues, poverty, mental illness, surviving the suicide of a loved one, and more.

New York Board of Rabbis, “Torah Time with Tots, and Parents Too!” The production will consist of web videos and will feature five leading rabbis from the main Jewish denominations explaining the weekly synagogue Torah reading.  The rabbis will also use artwork and images, a key point of the weekly reading, to explore why it has meaning for adults and children alike.

United Church of Christ, “New Hope in the Big Easy.”  This video uses the story of rebuilding a UCC church as a vehicle to demonstrate the daily hardships and the triumphs faced by Katrina victims throughout New Orleans as they strive to pick up the broken pieces of their lives and try to put them back together again.

Faith & Values Media, a non-profit organization, is the nation’s largest coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith groups dedicated to building bridges of understanding among people of faith through electronic and broadcast media. Its member association is made up of faith organizations with more than 200,000 congregations and 120 million congregants. A list of its members can be found at www.faithandvaluesmedia.org. Faith & Values Media is a service of the National Interfaith Cable Coalition, Inc., established in 1987.