HOLLYWOOD, CA (ANS) -- “King James” and a bunch of “Courageous” Cops, were among the winners at the 20th Annual Movieguide® Faith and Values Gala in Hollywood, California, on Friday, February 10, 2012.

Dr, Ted Baehr and Norman Stone share a humorous moment with Dan Wooding on the Red Carpet (Photo: Peter Wooding)

Winner of the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring TV Program of 2011, supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, was KJB: THE BOOK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD from BBC Two, the extraordinary story behind the most extraordinary of books.

In the movie, directed by veteran British filmmaker, Norman Stone, acclaimed actor John Rhys-Davies (Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones) leads the viewer back into a darker time to discover this fascinating tale of saints and sinners, power and passion. The greatest translation of the Bible -- The King James Bible -- emerged into a world and culture that would never be quite the same again.

Stone, who is not as well known in the U.S. as he is in the UK, was like myself, a founder member of the Arts Centre Group in London, and has directed and produced TV and film since 1975.

Employed as the BBC’s youngest producer/director. He established his career in 1984 when he invented, developed and directed SHADOWLANDS (about the relationship of C.S. Lewis with divorced American poet Joy Gresham and her young son Douglas) for BBC1. This gained him two Bafta awards, an International Emmy, and the Prague D’Or for Best Director.

Winner of the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring Movie of 2011, ALSO supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation, was COURAGEOUS from Affirm Films/Provident/Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Cover of exclusive collector’s edition DVD

Sherwood Pictures production, COURAGEOUS, tells the story of four men, with one calling: To serve and protect. As law enforcement officers, who are confident and focused, standing up to the worst the streets have to offer. Yet at the end of the day, they face a challenge that none of them are truly prepared to tackle: fatherhood. When tragedy strikes home, these men are left wrestling with their hopes, fears, faith and fathering. Can a newfound urgency help these dads draw closer to God… and to their children? Protecting the streets is second nature. Raising their children in a God-honoring way?

Many celebrities gathered at the Universal City Hilton, close to the heart of Hollywood, for a very special evening and also enjoyed entertainment provided by Pat Boone, B.J. Thomas, Juliana Zobrist, Natalie Grant, was well as from Ace Young and Diana Degarmo, both American Idol finalists.

Dan Wooding interviewing Dean Cain (Photo: Peter Wooding)

Host for the evening was Dean Cain, who is most widely known for his role as Clark Kent/Superman in the popular American television series LOIS & CLARK: THE NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN. During a Red Carpet interview, he gave me the quote of the evening when I asked him if he was embarrassed about playing Superman and he said, “Not really apart from wearing the tights and red knickers.”

A highlight of the evening was when media expert, Dr. Ted Baehr, told the audience in his Annual Report to the Entertainment Industry that an analysis that his advocacy group Movieguide® has done, showed that the most family-friendly movies averaged more than $40.7 million per movie in 2011 in America and Canada, but that the least family-friendly movies with the most offensive, obscene, or anti-family and immoral content averaged only about $19.8 million.

B.J. Thomas talks with Dan Wooding (Photo: Peter Wooding)

Baehr said that the most family-friendly movies with the most inspiring, cleanest content earn more money at the box office and on home video.

The study extensively studied the content of the top movies released by the major studios in Hollywood earning $750,000 or more, including the major independent studios.

“The evidence is abundantly clear,” said Baehr, founder and publisher of Movieguide®. “Moviegoers greatly prefer family-friendly movies.”

He noted that the Annual Report, now in its 20th year, doesn’t just examine family movies and cartoons for children, but family-friendly movies with the cleanest, most inspiring, and least offensive content.

Dr. Ted Baehr gave his annual Report to the Entertainment Industry

“Most people want to see Good conquer evil, Truth triumph over falsehood, Justice prevail over injustice, Liberty conquer tyranny, and Beauty overcome ugliness,” he added. “They also would like to take their whole family, including their grandparents, to the movies more often.”

The study also found that movies with no sex, no nudity, and no foul language averaged the most money in 2011. In fact, the more sex, nudity, or foul language in a movie, the less money it tended to make, he added.

The Winners

Now for those of you who would like to see the full Winners List, sponsored by the Christian Film & Television Commission®, here it is:

Winner of the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring Movie of 2011, supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation: COURAGEOUS from Affirm Films/Provident/Sony Pictures Entertainment

Other nominees:

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 $100,000 movie prize is equally divided among the people in the following five categories – the director, the credited writer(s), the producer(s), the senior distribution executive exclusively responsible for distributing the feature film, and the senior motion picture studio executive responsible for production.

Winner of the $100,000 Epiphany Prize for Most Inspiring TV Program of 2011, supported by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation: KJB: THE BOOK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD from BBC Two

Other Nominees:

BUCK DENVER ASKS… WHY DO WE CALL IT CHRISTMAS – EMI
A CHRISTMAS WISH – The Hallmark Channel
THE LOST VALENTINE – Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions
LOVE BEGINS – The Hallmark Channel
MITCH ALBOM’S HAVE A LITTLE FAITH – Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions

The $100,000 TV prize is equally divided among the people in the following five categories – the director, the credited writer(s), the executive producer(s) responsible for the program, the senior television network executive responsible for broadcasting the program, and the senior production studio executive responsible for production.

The Epiphany Prizes are given to the best, most inspiring movie and television program that greatly increases man’s love or undertanding of God.”

The $50,000 Kairos Prizes for Spiritually Uplifting Screenplays by First-Time and Beginning Screenwriters, sponsored by a grant from the John Templeton Foundation

1. HALO THEORY, by Amy Williams of Marina Del Rey, Calif., $25,000
2. A DOLPHIN IN OUR LAKE, by David (Nicholas) Hartmann of Mason, Ohio, $15,000
3. I, JOHN, by Sean Paul Murphy of Baltimore, Md., $10,000

The Grace Award for Most Inspiring Performance in Movies in 2011 – Alex Kendrick for COURAGEOUS.

Other movie acting nominees (Alpha Order): Robert Amaya (COURAGEOUS), Justin Bieber (JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER), Jim Carrey (MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS), Jessica Chastain (THE TREE OF LIFE), Sam Claflin (PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES), Viola Davis (THE HELP), Robert Duvall (SEVEN DAYS IN UTOPIA), Nathan Gamble (25 HILL), Anthony Hopkins (THE RITE), Dennis Quaid (SOUL SURFER), Martin Sheen (THE WAY), Annasophia Robb (SOUL SURFER), Kevin Sorbo (SOUL SURFER).

The Grace Award for Most Inspiring Performance in Television in 2011 – Kirstin Dorn for A CHRISTMAS WISH

Other television acting nominees (alpha order): Sean Faris (THE LOST VALENTINE), Laurence Fishburne (MITCH ALBOM’S HAVE A LITTLE FAITH), Sam Heughan (A PRINCESS FOR CHRISTMAS), Katie McGrath (THE LOST VALENTINE and A PRINCESS FOR CHRISTMAS), Julie Mond (LOVE BEGINS), John Rhys-Davies (KJB: THE BOOK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD), Gary Sinise (“Indelible,” CSI: NY), Kristy Swanson (A CHRISTMAS WISH), Betty White (THE LOST VALENTINE).
Best Movie for Families – HUGO from Paramount Pictures and Viacom

** The Ten Best 2011 Movies for Families **
1. HUGO
2. SOUL SURFER
3. THE MUPPETS
4. THE ADVENTURES OF TINTIN
5. COURAGEOUS
6. MARS NEEDS MOMS
7. JUSTIN BIEBER: NEVER SAY NEVER
8. PUSS IN BOOTS
9. MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS
10. CARS 2

Best Movie for Mature Audiences – PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON SRANGER TIDES from Walt Disney Pictures
** The Ten Best 2011 Movies for Mature Audiences **
1. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES
2. EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE
3. CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER
4. MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – GHOST PROTOCOL
5. THE TREE OF LIFE
6. THE ARTIST
7. SEVEN DAYS IN UTOPIA
8. SARAH’S KEY
9. THOR
10. THE WAY

The Faith and Freedom Awards for Promoting Positive American Values in 2011

Winner for Movies – CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER from Paramount Pictures and Viacom
Other movie nominees (alpha order): 25 HILL from Team Cherokee Productions, CORIOLANUS from The Weinstein Co., EXTREMELY LOUD AND INCREDIBLY CLOSE from Warner Bros. Pictures, and MR. POPPER’S PENGUINS from 20th Century Fox.

Winner for TV – THE LOST VALENTINE from Hallmark Hall of Fame Production

Other TV nominees (alpha order): “Engaged” from NCIS of CBS, the “Indelible” episode from CSI: NY of CBS, KJB: THE BOOK THAT CHANGED THE WORLD from BBC Two, VIETNAM IN HD, PART 1 AND 2 from The History Channel, and WHO IS SIMON MILLER? from Procter & Gamble Productions and Walmart, which aired on NBC.

Note: This was a family affair for my family as my son, Peter Wooding, videoed all of my Red Carpet interviews which will soon be posted on the ASSIST News Service section of www.youtube.com, and he and my wife Norma took the photos.

Dan Wooding, 71, is an award winning British journalist now living in Southern California with his wife Norma, to whom he has been married for 48 years. They have two sons, Andrew and Peter, and six grandchildren who all live in the UK. He is the founder and international director of ASSIST (Aid to Special Saints in Strategic Times) and the ASSIST News Service (ANS) and was, for ten years, a commentator, on the UPI Radio Network in Washington, DC. He now hosts the weekly “Front Page Radio” show on KWVE in Southern California which is also carried throughout the United States. The program is also aired in Great Britain on Calvary Chapel Radio UK and also in Belize and South Africa. Besides this, Wooding is a host for His Channel Live, which is carried via the Internet to some 192 countries and also provides a regular commentary for Worship Life Radio on KWVE. You can follow Dan Wooding on Facebook under his name there or at ASSIST News Service. He is the author of some 44 books, one of which is his autobiography, “From Tabloid to Truth”, which is published by Theatron Books. To order a copy, press this link. Wooding, who was born in Nigeria of British missionary parents, has also recently released his first novel “Red Dagger” which is available this link.