The winners of the Central Communications Board 2010 Communications Competition for the best newsletters/magazines, websites and innovative use of social media by individuals, parishes and dioceses were announced today, Saturday 8 May, by the Archbishop of Armagh at the General Synod in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin.

The competition was independently judged by external media professionals. The judges praised the entrants for their efforts in each category, ‘for responding to the challenge of the competition which asked Church communicators to raise their game, be imaginative and find new ways of communicating the Church’s message and spreading the good news’.

In the Parish magazines/newsletters category, the judges felt that it was difficult to choose between many of the entrants and, although there were clear winners, all the entrants had qualities to recommend them.

    * First prize: Taney Parish for ‘Taney News’.

This was praised as a publication with a clear statement of intent: noticeably an ambitious project evidencing risk, faith and organisation on the part of the parish. It successfully presented a vibrant parish life and possessed outreach potential as something someone would gladly pick up in a doctor’s waiting room; parish outreach concerning the developing world was also noted and commended. Taney is building on previous success, having been Highly Commended in the 2009 competition.

    * Runner Up: St Columba’s Parish, Knock for ‘The Columban’ – commendably, runner-up for the second year in a row.

The judges praised its good use of colour and the handy format. There was a notably large number of discrete editorial pieces within it and great care had been taken to include many and a good variety of photographs. In all, a vibrant parish life was communicated with an appealingly bright and busy look about it.

    * Finally in this category, two further parish newsletters have been ‘Highly Commended’: St Paul’s Parish, Lisburn for its Parish News and Tamlaght O’Crilly and Innisrush for its Parish News.

St Paul’s Lisburn’s newsletter was praised for its striking use of photography and strong cover imagery.

Tamlaght O’Crilly’s newsletter, while modest, also benefited from a striking, inviting and evocative cover.
 
In the Diocesan magazines category –

    * Derry & Raphoe Dioceses’ N:Vision took first place – for the second year running!

The magazine was considered to be very colourful, striking and professional in its layout and production: a winning formula evidently extremely well sustained. The parochial wrap-up was felt to be particularly well done, while the general magazine content was strong, editorially coherent and topical, with thought having gone into giving an appropriate editorial theme. Overall, ‘N:Vision’ showed a real assurance and a lovely lightness of touch, an excellent advertisement for the diocese as well as a strategically useful document an vital information tool.

    * Runner-up was Dublin & Glendalough Dioceses’ Church Review.

The judges felt that it was a very substantial effort with real editorial depth and a huge variety of articles. While the use of colour is limited to distinct sections of the magazine, it is very well organised and informative with lots of human interest photographs and any shortcomings on colour usage are compensated for by the publication’s editorial ballast and by sheer wealth of content.
 
    * Finally, this year in this category a further ‘Highly Commended’ award has been made for Cashel & Ossory’s December Supplement, ‘Musical Marathon’ recording Bishop Michael Burrows’ fund-raising trip across his dioceses. The judges felt this ought to be rewarded for the scale of effort involved: a substantial and lively piece of work.

In the ‘Other’ organizations Printed Publications category –

    * First place goes to ‘Soundboard’ A Newsletter for Church Musicians’.

The judges felt that this reflected well on a self-starting group of people, passionate about their role in the church and reflecting it to themselves and others. It displayed the initiative to communicate, share ideas and to promote co-operation and esprit de corps. The newsletter was packed with 15+ articles and included a good use of colour and a variety of ‘people pictures’.

    * Runner Up in this category goes to ‘In Touch with Connor Diocese Mothers’ Union’.

The judges felt that this 6-page newssheet was very well done: colourful and very visual with a high story count. Imagination had been shown in the layout and design and they particularly liked the comely seal on the front cover!

In the Websites category the external judges looked for innovation, freshness, quality of design and layout and outreach potential. The standard of entries was high and judging was not an easy task -- constructive comments are available for anyone who would like feedback.

In the Parish websites category –

    * First place goes to Willowfield Parish, Belfast (Down & Dromore Diocese)

The simple landing page with its clear information was praised as were the use of thumbnail photos, Sunday service times on all the pages, a clear campaign feature and the pattern of short, concise items with contact details. The fact that pages loaded quickly was also appreciated!

    * Runner Up: Aughrim Parish (Clonfert Diocese)

Praised for its ‘seriously good’ design. Here a ‘less is more’ approach works to advantage: everything one might want is there and white space is handled well.

Best Diocesan website –

    * First place: Derry & Raphoe Diocese

Derry’s communications are on a winning streak in 2010! The judging highlighted excellent design and an impressive home page. There is a good parish list, few pages need scrolling, the links page with its photo/logo icons is strong and white space is handled well.

    * Runner Up: Connor Diocese

A well organized site with good use of white space and a front page which is appealingly full of faces, expressing a vibrancy in the diocese.

In the ‘Other’ organizations website category –

    * First place: Summer Madness’ ‘Tales of the Unexpected’

Judged as a ‘wow’! A great site with excellent stories and high quality video material.

    * Runner Up: Shankill Parish Lurgan’s Uganda 2010 site

‘Striking photos and a great layout make this site a hit.’ Quick loads and something on every page to engage with – the judges wanted to sign up to help immediately but were too old!

Finally, the 2010 competition again invited entries for the most innovative use of ‘social media’ over and beyond websites. Here, the competition was looking to see how churches, church organizations and members engaged with the blogs and social networking media.

    * First place: Revd Daniel Owen’s ‘Imprints of Light ’

The judges like the wonderful photos and interesting thoughts – they kept on scrolling to enjoy all the photos.

    * Runner Up: Canon Patrick Comerford’ s blog spot

Clearly a very active account with lots of interesting material.

The Full list of winners is as follows:
Communications Competition Winners:

Parish Magazines/Newsletters
Winner: Taney Parish – Taney News
Runner Up: St Columba’s, Knock – The Columban
Highly Commended: St Paul’s Lisburn Parish News; Tamlaght O’Crilly Parish News

Diocesan Magazines
Winner: Derry & Raphoe’s N:Vision
Runner Up: Dublin & Glendalough’s The Church Review
Highly Commended: Cashel & Ossory’s Musical Marathon Special Supplement

Other Organizations Magazines
Winner: Soundboard: A Newsletter for Church Musicians
Runner Up: ‘In Touch with Connor Diocese Mothers’ Union’

Parish Websites
Winner: Willowfield Parish (Down & Dromore) www.willowfieldchurch.co.uk
Runner Up: Aughrim Parish (Clonfert) www.aughrim.clonfert.anglican.org

Diocesan Websites
Winner: Derry & Raphoe Diocese www.derry.anglican.org
Runner Up: Connor Diocese www.connor.anglican.org
 
Other Websites
Winner: http://www.talesoftheunexpected.org
Runner Up: http://www.uganda2010.org

Social Media
Winner: http://imprintsoflight.blogspot.com/
Runner Up: http://revpatrickcomerford.blogspot.com

::synod10::