For the 13th consecutive year, The Alabama Baptist was named one of the top Christian regional newspapers in the nation.
The state Baptist paper was honored by four national religious press organizations during recent award ceremonies for work published in 2008.
The Associated Church Press (ACP) named the paper Best in Class among regional newspapers at its annual meeting May 6–8 in Indianapolis.
The judges said, “Engaging writing throughout and strong, clear, interesting lead paragraphs build a sense of connection with readers and demonstrate strong professional skills. A close alignment with its mission is evident throughout.”
The Religion Communicators Council (RCC) also named it the top regional newspaper with an Award of Excellence at its yearly convention in Boston March 26–29, as well as giving it another Award of Excellence in its Single Issue division for the Oct. 2, 2008 edition.
The Evangelical Press Association (EPA), meeting jointly with ACP this year, also gave The Alabama Baptist an Award of Merit.
The paper won an Award of Excellence from ACP for its state convention annual meeting coverage. It also received an honorable mention for its design of the Oct. 2, 2008 issue from ACP and for overall design from the Baptist Communicators Association (BCA).
The Alabama Baptist’s recently redesigned Web site, www.thealabamabaptist.org, also won EPA’s Online division, garnering an Award of Excellence. The judges said, “This site succeeds in levels of content, presentation, organization and navigation. It is clean and uncluttered.”
The site was developed by Provenance Digital interactive marketing company in Birmingham.
Jennifer Davis Rash, managing editor, won an Award of Merit from ACP for “Vital Legislation” (about the U.S. Farm Bill) and a Certificate of Merit from RCC for “Going for It All,” a story about legislation dealing with electronic bingo gambling in the state.
Rash was also named national BCA president during the group’s annual convention, held April 15–18 in Nashville, and will preside over BCA during next year’s RCCongress 2010, a joint meeting of BCA and RCC in Chicago.
Keith Hinson of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) was named BCA treasurer.
For the news story “Felt like a death” about the arson attack on Chilton County’s Providence Baptist Church, Assistant Editor Grace Thornton won an Award of Excellence from RCC and a second place award from BCA.
From EPA, she won a fifth-place award for the feature “Knowing Real Love,” and she, along with correspondent Manda Gibson, won a fourth-place award for stories in the Cause of the Year: Caring for God’s Creation category.
Thornton also won a Certificate of Merit from RCC and an honorable mention from BCA for “‘Heartbreak’ shift a daily reality for gambling facilities nationwide; people are suffering,” a feature story about a casino worker. “Excuse Me?,” a photo used to illustrate a story on lack of friendliness toward visitors at church, also garnered her another honorable mention from BCA.
From ACP, Lauren A. Chow, graphic designer, received an honorable mention for “Spanning the Globe,” and correspondent Steve Gross won an Award of Merit for his photo “He taught me everything I know,” which accompanied a story about gardening as a family.
Writer John B. Polhill received honorable mentions from ACP for “How the Bible came to be” in the series division and for “Which Bible translation is right for me?” in the Personally Useful Article division.
Chris Mills of the SBOM won a second-place award in BCA’s photography division for “Sizing Up the Competition,” a photo from the RA soapbox derby that was published in The Alabama Baptist.
And in the design division, Jesse Conte of the SBOM won second-place awards for “28 Ways” and “mpact Alabama.”
Samford University’s office of communication also won several awards from BCA as well as RCC.
Philip Poole, executive director of university communication, garnered an Award of Excellence from RCC and an honorable mention in BCA’s design division for “2008 President’s Report.”
Scott Camp, senior graphic designer, won an Award of Excellence from RCC and an honorable mention from BCA for the booklet “Table Grace.”
He also won an Award of Excellence from RCC for “2008–2009 Admission Campaign.”
Poole and Camp also won a certificate of merit from RCC jointly for their Learning Center note cards.
National Woman’s Missionary Union also brought away an award from BCA, with Melody Maxwell winning a first-place award for “GA World” magazine, which was redesigned in 2007.
Brian Maxwell Smith, minister of communications at Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, garnered a first-place win in BCA’s logo design for “Mom2mom.” He also won a second-place award from BCA for “Global Impact Celebration,” as well as an honorable mention for “Shades Mountain Life.” (TAB)
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