ELCA Communicators Receive 2003 DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Religion Communicators Council (RCC) honored several members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) with DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards at the opening banquet of the 2003 RCC convention here April 24. Awards were given for communication projects completed in 2002 in eight general and 31 specific categories, with eight "Best of Class" awards and a special "Shoestring Award." The DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards are given annually to active RCC members who demonstrate excellence in religion communications and public relations. The awards are named to honor the late Victor DeRose and the late Paul M. Hinkhouse, leading lithographers in New York and longtime friends of the RCC.
MOSAIC, the video magazine of the ELCA, received Best of Class honors in the non-broadcast audio and video category for its Winter 2003 issue, "Glory to God Alone: The Life of J.S. Bach." Tim Frakes, producer for MOSAIC, ELCA Department for Communication, Chicago, accepted one of the eight DeRose-Hinkhouse crystal disks with RCC emblem.
MOSAIC is a documentary video series distributed on DVD or videotape to subscribers on a quarterly basis. Glory to God Alone was a 30-minute introduction to the 18th century German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, who is responsible for volumes of music, significant both classically and to the Lutheran tradition.
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Lutheran Social Services of the South (LSSS), Austin, Texas, received the Shoestring Award for producing the most effective communication with the smallest budget. Katherine Kerr, LSSS associate vice president for public relations, accepted the honor for the promotional video, "Rebuild New Life."
The video was produced with a budget of $3,800 and helped generate $1.2 million, as well as in-kind gifts and 5,800 volunteer hours, to restore the New Life Children's Residential Treatment Center, Canyon City, Texas. A July 4 flood displaced 48 girls, aged 11 to 17, and the center's 45 staff until Dec. 23. Getting their campus back was "a wonderful Christmas gift," Kerr said.
The RCC presented 41 Awards of Excellence for communication projects judged to be in the top 10 percent of their categories. To be eligible for Best of Class honors, MOSAIC received an Award of Excellence.
Lutheran Woman Today, the magazine of Women of the ELCA, Chicago, received two Awards of Excellence for its September 2002 issue. Nancy Goldberger and Deborah Bogaert accepted the awards for publication cover and for the cover article "God and Chaos, Faith and Healing," by the Rev. Herbert W. Chilstrom, former presiding bishop of the ELCA. Communication staff of the ELCA Board of Pensions, Minneapolis, received an Award of Excellence for overall publication design. The Rev. Ronald T. Glusenkamp, Terrance G. Mencel, Kimberly Purifoy and Linda J. Renander accepted the honor for the Retirement Plan education packet produced in 2002.
Fifty-one Awards of Merit were given for other projects judged to be in the top 25 percent of their categories. Several ELCA members received Awards of Merit:
+ Sheri Booms Holm, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minn., "Luther Seminary Advent Devotional," category of print media other than periodicals
+ The Rev. Ronald Glusenkamp, Kami Lund and Terrance Mencel, ELCA Board of Pensions, "Congregation 'passed the peace' to ELCA retirees in need through Special Needs Retirement Fund" by Kami Lund, category of writing for periodicals
+ Deborah Bogaert and Nancy Goldberger, Lutheran Woman Today, Women of the ELCA, January/February 2002, "Forgiving" by Jeanne Bishop, category of writing for periodicals
+ Barbara Andrews, ELCA Department for Communication, "This Holy Night" public relations campaign for CBS television special, category of public relations/advertising
+ Karen Dersnah, ELCA Department for Communication, www.daveyandgoliath.org Web site for "Davey and Goliath," category of electronic communication
+ Wendy McCredie, ELCA Department for Communication, @elca, the online employee newsletter for the Lutheran Center, category of electronic communication
+ Maria Thompson, Luther Seminary, http://www.luthersem.edu/godpause/ "God Pause," daily Christian devotions, category of electronic communication
Glusenkamp coordinated the judging of entries for DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards through the ELCA Board of Pensions' department for customer outreach. Each of eight of the RCC's 11 local chapters was responsible for judging entries in one of the general categories; and a panel of professional religion and secular communicators selected the winning entries.
The RCC received 344 entries for this year's awards. Entries were judged on overall quality, including such aspects as concept, writing, design, creativity, communication value and effectiveness in achieving its purpose.
Founded in 1929, the RCC is an international and interfaith association of about 550 religion communicators at work in print and electronic communication, marketing and public relations. Its next convention will be held March 25-27, 2004, in Birmingham, Ala.
By Albert H. Lee
chtoday_editor@chtoday.com
