The Religion Communicators Council (RCC) proudly announces their Wilbur Award of Excellence and Award of Merit, recognizing exceptional work completed by secular (non-religious) media outlets in 2023.

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