The Religion Communicators Council (RCC) has concluded its highly successful annual meeting, held from April 4-7, 2024, in Louisville, Kentucky.

With the theme “Harnessing Our Collective Power,” the event brought together professionals and practitioners from diverse faith traditions and communication disciplines to explore innovative approaches to religious communication in the digital age.The conference featured an impressive lineup of speakers and engaging workshops, providing attendees with valuable insights and practical strategies to enhance their communication efforts. Among the distinguished speakers were:

• Jud Hendrix with Louisville Interfaith Paths to Peace, covering “The Radical Catalyst of Faith – Inspiring Faith to Action”
• Adam Graber with Faith Tech presenting “Communications After Artificial Intelligence”
• Allison Norton of the Hartford Seminary speaking on “Faith Communities Today”
• Angela Redding of the Radiant Foundation sharing “Communicating Faith in a Faithless World”
• Laura Buchanan, with United Methodist Communications, on “AI and content creation: shortcuts that boost productivity”

The awards are presented annually to recognize the outstanding work in the communication of religious issues, values, and themes in media in the fields of print and online journalism, book publishing, television, and film. The Award of Excellence is for entries deemed to be of excellent quality and unquestionably worthy of recognition while the Award of Merit is presented for work deemed meritorious and worthy of acknowledgment.

The awards were presented Friday, April 5, in Louisville, KY, at the Muhammad Ali Center, during the RCC’s annual convention, “95 Years of Harnessing our Collective Power.”

The Wilbur Award is the top honor provided by the Religion Communicators Council.  It is reserved for the most outstanding entries each year. The Award of Excellence is the next level of recognition provided by the RCC and is for entries deemed to be of excellent quality and unquestionably worthy of recognition. The Award of Merit is the final level of recognition, for work deemed meritorious and worthy of acknowledgment.

The Religion Communicators Council has presented Wilbur Awards annually since 1949. Secular communicators enter work in several categories. Juries of media professionals, coordinated by council members across the country, evaluate submissions on content, creativity, impact and excellence in communicating religious values. The award is named for the late Marvin C. Wilbur, a pioneer in religious public relations, longtime council leader and former Presbyterian Church executive.

Congratulations to the 2024 Wilbur Award of Excellence and Merit honorees (Note: The Wilbur award winners were announced in a separate release dated April 10):

• Audio Productions > Audio-Only News Stories
  • Award of Excellence:
    • ““We need to talk about antisemitism” Wisdom Without Walls: an online salon for Jewish ideas; Rabbi Jeffrey K. Salkin
    • There will be only one decoration in Manger Square, Bethlehem — a nativity, destroyed; NPR News; Jason DeRose and Larry Kaplow
    • Fear and anger dominate Jewish and Muslim reactions after the Hamas attack in Israel and the war in Gaza; Associated Press; Walter Ratliff
    • As psychedelic-assisted therapy grows, so does interest from a new group: chaplains; freelance/NPR; Deena Prichep, producer & Ravenna Koenig, editor

• Audio Productions > Other Audio Productions
  • Award of Excellence:
    • How God Works: The Science Behind Spirituality (Season 5); PRX;David DeSteno, Josie Holtzman, Sofie Isenberg, Genevieve Sponsler
    • The Art of Kintsugi; Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; Mary Hynes, Rosie Fernandez, McKenna Hadley-Burke

• • Award of Merit:
    • Rock That Doesn’t Roll: The Story of Christian Music; PRX; Andrew Gill and Leah Payne
    • Nightwalking; The Believer; Bianca Giaever
    • How Indigenous yogis and meditators are adapting and reclaiming ‘wellness’; CBC Radio – Unreserved; Rosanna Deerchild, Laura Beaulne-Stuebing, Rhiannon Johnson, Erin Noel and Kim Kaschor
    • Things Not Seen: Conversations About Culture and Faith; Sandburg Media, LLC; David Dault

• Audio-Visual Productions > News Stories
  • Award of Excellence:
    • The News Project— Holiday Light, Community Hope; GNAT-TV; Donna Frischknecht Jackson
    • CBS Sunday Morning: A Day at Dog Mountain; CBS News; Martha Teichner, Dustin Stephens, Emanuele Secci, Efrain Robles, & Rand Morrison
    • The Chosen; CBS NEWS SUNDAY MORNING, David Rothman , Lee Cowan, Remington Korper
    • Black Jesus stained glass creates intrigue in Rhode Island; The Boston Globe; Eliza Dewey, Segun Oduolowu, Malcolm Gay, Jennie O’Hagan, Linda Henry, Dan Krockmalnic, Ira Napoliello, Cynthia Needham

• • Award of Merit:
    • It’s not just a label for meat: halal investments target Islamic customers; CBC News; Anis Heydari

• Audio-Visual Productions > Other AV Productions
  • Award of Excellence:
    • Laudate Deum; La Machi, Comunicación para Buenas Causas; Juan della Torre, Llanos Meseger, Manolo Portabella, Matias Colombres, Óscar Parajon

• • Award of Merit:
    • Religion In Life: The Church of The Holy Cross; AppTV; Ozzie Ostwalt, Kylie Karner, Gabriel Fernandez, Liam Dunam
    • Meet Me There; MEET ME THERE, The Interfaith Musical; Ruth Broyde Sharone, creator of MEET ME THERE, The Interfaith Musical

• Written Works > Books

• • Award of Excellence:
    • 15 Years of KidSpirit; KidSpirit; KidSpirit

• • Award of Merit:
    • Narratives of Trauma and Moral Agency among Christian Post-9/11 Veterans; Franklin Road Academy; Thomas H Suitt III

• Written Works > Magazine Articles
  • Award of Excellence:
    • Inside the Christian legal campaign to return prayer to public schools; The Hechinger Report; Linda K. Wertheimer
    • Blessed Is He; Oklahoma Today; Brooke Adcox, Brent Fuchs

• • Award of Merit:
    • Fabricating Victims: The Fraudulent Attack Against the Unification Church in Japan; The Journal of CESNUR (the Center for Studies on New Religions); Masumi Fukuda

• Written Works > Newspaper Articles
  • Award of Excellence:
    • Church for ‘nones’: Meet the anti-dogma spiritual collectives emerging across the US; Religion News Service; Kathryn Post
    • East Palestine church hosts chemical exposure study in wake of train disaster; Religion News Service; Kathryn Post
    • A look at Hindu American life through 3 New York City temples; Religion News Service; Richa Ravindra Karmarkar
    • A historic caste discrimination law brings Hindus to the forefront of American politics; Religion News Service; Richa Ravindra Karmarkar
    • In Texas, debate over school chaplains escalates school board culture wars; Religion News Service; Jack Jenkins
    • Most Funeral Homes Don’t Know How To Bury Muslims. These Women Want To Change That; HuffPost; Rowaida Abdelaziz
    • Catholic Sex Abuse-Unseen Black Victims; Associated Press; Tiffany Stanle, Lea Skene
    • Psychedelic Churches; Associated Press; Michael Casey, Jessie Wardarski
    • Hawaii-Sacred Mauna Kea; Associated Press; Deepa BHarath; Audrey McAvoy; Jessie Wardarski
    • Young organists pull out all the stops to inspire interest in a ‘complex’ instrument; Religion News Service; Adelle M. Banks
    • Demons be gone: meeting America’s new exorcists; N/A; Elle Hardy
    • Navy Chaplains-Suicide Prevention; Associated Press; Giovanna Dell’Orto

• • Award of Merit:
    • There’s a reason every hit worship song sounds the same/For church worship teams, Auto-Tune covers a multitude of sins. Especially online; Religion News Service; Bob Smietana
    • The rise of Christian nationalism — and its opponents; Religion News Service; Jack Jenkins
    • How a bucolic Tennessee suburb became a hotbed of ‘Christian Nashville-ism’; Religion News Service; Bob Smietana, Religion News Service
    • Muslim migrants in New York find refuge in a Nigerian church; Religion News Service; Fiona Anne André
    • Signs of the Times; Religion News Service; Thomas J Reese, S.J.

• Written Works > Other Written Works
  • Award of Excellence:
    • Jewels of Elul; Pico Union Project; Craig Taubman

• • Award of Merit:
    • • The Request for Dissolution of the Unification Church in Japan: A Tragic Violation of Freedom of Religion or Belief; CESNUR, Center for Studies on New Religions; Thierry Valle,Massimo Introvigne,Eric Roux,Francesco Curto,Alessandro Amicarelli,Aaron Rhodes,Hans Noot,Willy Fautré,Raffaella Di Marzio,Rosita Šorytė,Camelia Marin,Sam Brownback,Katrina Lantos Swett
      • Why the Unification Church Should Not Be Dissolved; CESNUR, Center for Studies on New Religions; Tatsuki Nakayama

• Audio-Visual Productions > Full-length AV Productions

• • Award of Excellence:
    • • Secret Peacemaker; New Decade TV Ltd; Ciaran O’Connor, Nuala Cunningham, Jen Dunbar, Garry Keane, Mairead McIvor, Emma Leddy
      • WE ARE THE TREE OF LIFE CARRY ON; WE ARE THE TREE OF LIFE; Jacqueline Gmach & Clint Burkett

• • Award of Merit:
    • • Untold, Stories of a World War II Liberator; American Diversity Report; Deborah Levine, Dennis Parker, Michael Levine, Dylan Kussman, Charlene Hong White, Trish ross, Joel Scribner, Greg Glover, George Hoctor, Chase Parker

Mr. Sherinian has more than two decades of experience in public relations and communications in corporate, philanthropic and diplomatic sectors both in the United States and internationally. He has held prominent positions at companies and organizations such as Deseret Management Corporation, The United Nations Foundation, Philips Morris International, the Aga Khan Development Network, and the Millenium Change Corporation. He has helped build some of the most talked about milestones in digital global engagement around causes and UN issues over the last few years including the Social Good Summit, #GivingTuesday, Rio+Social, International Day of Happiness, and the Earth To Paris and Earth To Marrakech coalitions.

He is a passionate supporter of efforts to build a new era of global activism and philanthropy among a younger generation that is emerging on the global scene. Aaron was named by PRWeek as Global Public Relations Professional of the Year for 2016-2017 and by PRNews’ as 2017 CSR Professional of the Year. His team won three honors by PRNews as “Association/Nonprofit Team of the Year” in 2012, 2013, and 2015.

The Wilbur Award is the top honor provided by the RCC and is presented annually to recognize the most outstanding work in the communication of religious issues, values, and themes in secular media. Each winner received a hand-crafted stained-glass Wilbur trophy.

The awards were presented Friday, April 5, in Louisville, KY, at the Muhammad Ali Center, during the RCC’s annual convention, “95 Years of Harnessing our Collective Power.”

According to Teresa Faust, president of RCC’s Board of Governors, “For more than 70 years, the RCC has presented the Wilbur Awards to recognize excellence in the secular media in communicating about faith and religion – with fairness and professionalism, honesty and respect. In selecting our Wilbur Honorees, our judges evaluate content and creativity, execution and results, but the ultimate criterion is brilliance in communication about faith and religion. This year’s Wilbur recipients are part of a rich tradition of excellence.”

RCC’s Wilbur Award coordinator and RCC Board of Governors member Brad Pomerance notes, “The entries this year were truly outstanding, but maybe more importantly, inspiring in the way that they – in line with our Convention’s theme this year – remind us that as a community, we can ‘Harness our Collective Power’ in the name of the greater good.”

The Religion Communicators Council has presented Wilbur Awards annually since 1949. Secular communicators enter work in several categories. Juries of media professionals, coordinated by council members across the country, evaluate submissions on content, creativity, impact and excellence in communicating religious values. The award is named for the late Marvin C. Wilbur, a pioneer in religious public relations, longtime council leader and former Presbyterian Church executive.

2024 Wilbur Award Winners:

Audio Productions:

• News Stories/Short Form –
  • Two pastors worry for their congregants’ safety. Are more guns the answer or the problem?; Associated Press, Walter Ratliff and Allen Breed
• News Stories/Medium Form –
  • Churches confess and repent for sins against Native and Indigenous people; NPR News, Jason DeRose and Cheryl Corley
• News Stories/Long Form –
  • Freshwater, United; CBC Newfoundland and Labrador, Lindsay Bird and Steward Young
• Audio Productions/Long Form –
  • How three Muslims memorized the entire Qur’an; CBC Ottawa, Halima Sogbesan, Betsy Trumpener, Christine Maki and Caitlin Crockard

Written Works:

• Magazine Articles –
  • The Meeting House: Inside a Megachurch Scandal; The Walrus, Rachel Browne, Harley Rustad, Cornelia Li, Emma Wilkie, and Allison Baker
• Newspaper Articles/Faith & Values –
  • The Nones; Associated Press, Chinedu Asadu, Ilan Ben Zion, Deepa Bharath, Giovanna Dell’Orto, Mariam Fam, Luis Andres Henao, Peter Smith, and Mari Yamaguchi
  • Silicon Valley’s vision for AI? It’s religion, repackaged; Vox, Sigal Samuel
  • Meet Natalie Drew: Christian, trans woman, veteran and pacifist; Religion News Service Kathryn Post
• Newspaper Articles/Hard News –
  • The Synagogue Shooting Trial; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Anya Sostek, Megan Guza and Jonathan D. Salant
• Newspaper Articles/Human Interest –
  • Arson fire destroyed a Black L.A. church. ‘We shall rise from the ashes’ – but how?; Los Angeles Times, Thomas Curwen
• Books –
  • One More Mountain; Del Mar Investments, Mansur Nurdel and Jeannette Moninger

Audio-Visual:

• Major Motion Picture –
  • With This Light (Con Esta Luz); Miraflores Films, Nicole Bernardi-Reis, Laura Bermudez, and Jessica Sarowitz

Audio-Visual/Broadcast Television:

• Short Form –
  • Secrets of the Clergy; Fault Lines – Al Jazeera English, Kavitha Chekuru, Laila Al-Arian, Natasha Del Toro, Erik Ljung, and Leslie Atkins
  • A Taste of History with Chutzpah: Remarkable Stories of the Southern Jewish Adventure; AIB Network, Audrey Galex, Jai Schwarz, Adam Van Wickel, Lucas Hale, and Austin Prescott
• Medium Form –
  • The Malevolent Bride; A+E Studios and Ananey Studios, Noah Stollman, Avigail Ben-Dor Niv, Orly Atlas-Katz, Osnat Saraga, Oded Davidoff, Barry Jossen, Tana Jamieson and Adam Berkowitz
• Long Form –
  • Three Chaplains; Terrace Films LLC, David Washburn and Razi JafriAustin Prescott
  • SABBATH; Journey Films, Martin Doblmeier, Mark Comberiate and Carrie Snyder

Audio-Visual News Stories:

• Medium Form –
  • Taste of Home; CBS Sunday Morning, Lee Cowan, Sara Kugel, and Ed Givnish
• Long Form –
  • The Resurrection of Notre Dame; CBS News 60 Minutes, Bill Whitaker, Rome Hartman, Sara Kuzmarov, and Craig Crawford

In addition to the 19 Wilbur winning entries, RCC also honored 29 Award of Excellence Recipients and 17 Award of Merit Honorees. The Award of Excellence is for entries deemed to be of excellent quality and unquestionably worthy of recognition and the Award of Merit, which is presented for work deemed meritorious and worthy of acknowledgment.

All RCC members in good standing are invited to attend. The agenda will include reports of officers, reports of committees, old business and new business.

This is an in-person meeting only.

Jeff has been the President and owner of ACUPOLL Precision Research, Inc., since October 2012, bringing a passion for innovation and helping to grow the organization to meet the demands of an ever-evolving market landscape.

Jeff rose through Brand Management at Procter & Gamble in the ’80s and ’90s, working to boost market share for brands like Scope, Crest, and Pepto-Bismol. He spearheaded advertising training, helped improve global innovation structure and processes, and served in Corporate New Ventures, helping the COO explore new “white spaces” for the company.

After leaving P&G in the late ’90s, Jeff continued to be a catalyst for strategic growth as the President of Ingenuity Advisors, and has helped clients discover and pursue game-changing strategies: developing global category-creation initiatives, successfully launching new brands, pinpointing strategic acquisitions, and improving innovation capabilities and processes.

Jeff also invented and launched his own brand, +Repelle™, which gained distribution in 18,000 stores, 43 press stories, and a major hair color brand trademark license.

Being President of ACUPOLL gives Jeff the opportunity to help even more companies improve their success rate in innovation and marketing, thereby fueling the success of more businesses and their employees, and ultimately helping families and communities thrive.

Jeff lives in Cincinnati with his wife of 25+ years, two daughters (in college), yellow labrador, two frisky felines, and a colorful saltwater reef tank. He enjoys traveling with his family, cheering on the Cincinnati Bengals, and helping to revitalize the camp where he and his children have spent many wonderful summers.

Zoom link and details: https://religioncommunicators.org/professional-development-rcc/

The Wilburs, which are the top honor provided by the RCC, are awarded in several categories, including Audio (podcast, radio), Audio/Visual (film, television, and social media), Images (illustration and photography), and Written (books, magazines, and newspapers). Past winners include AP, Atlantic, CBC, Deseret News, Harper Collins, Los Angeles Times, NBC News, Netflix, NPR, Penguin Random Home, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Religion News Service, RTE, 60 Minutes, and more.

After the Wilbur Awards Ceremony, all entrants will receive judges’ ballots, with comments and scores on their entry. Each recipient receives a hand-crafted stained glass award.

The award, which is named for the late Marvin C. Wilbur, a pioneer in religious public relations, longtime council leader and former Presbyterian Church executive, will be presented Friday, April 5, 2024, in Louisville during the RCC’s annual convention, “95 years of RCC: Harnessing our Collective Power.”

The Religion Communicators Council has presented Wilbur Awards annually since 1949. Juries of media professionals, coordinated by council members across the country, evaluate submissions on content, creativity, impact and excellence in communicating religious values.

For more information about the 2024 Wilbur Awards, visit: RCC’s Registration Site for Events and Awards (rccregistration.org)

Join RCC members and Board of Govenors representatives Rev. Brian Fesler, Joyce Litoff and Adlai Amor as they provide the inside scoop on RCC’s top award for our members.

The presenters will share tips for entries, what catches the judges’ attention and suggestions on what not to include. The DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards are given annually to active members of RCC and honor excellence in religious communications and public relations.

The awards are open to all RCC members who played a key role in the creative process (writing, designing, producing, etc.) of communications materials completed in 2023.  This year, the deadline for entries is January 31, so you’ll have time to tweak your entry  thanks to the info shared at this webinar. For more details on the awards, visit the convention information site at rccregistration.org.

Religion Communicators Council is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting
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Tabs connect the viewer quickly to insight such as learning whether you should submit for a Wilbur or DeRose-Hinkhouse Award, info for those interested in serving on the awards judging panel and, of course, the online form for registering for the annual convention. 

Note that early bird rates for the convention registration are available until February 29 and the deadline to register is noon on March 25.

For attendees’ convenience, there are several pricing options, including full convention (covering all three days of workshops and plenaries, as well as the DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards banquet and the Wilbur Awards banquet); day-only that includes all workshops and plenary sessions for the day or your choice; and tickets for additional guests for the awards dinners. Group rates are also offered when paying for four or more attendees at the same time.

RCC has arranged special pricing for our members at the Brown Hotel; rooms must be booked on or before Friday, March 10 by 5 p.m. to receive the special rate of $188 (plus tax). The link to make online reservations is provided on the convention site.