Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) communicators won 18 awards in the 2011 Religion Communicators Council’s (RCC) DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards competition, including four as “Best of Class.”

The Presbyterian winners came from Creative Services, Mission Resources, Presbyterians Today and HORIZONS magazines and Presbyterian Disaster Assistance.

The awards are given annually to active RCC members who demonstrated excellence in religious communication and public relations. The 268 entries submitted for the 2011 contest were judged by faculty at Belmont University in Nashville, TN.

The Religion Communicators Council, founded in 1929, is an international interfaith association of religion communicators who work in print and electronic communication, media, marketing and public relations.

Awards of Excellence and Certificates of Merit were given in numerous categories divided into 10 classes. One entry in each class was selected as “Best of Class.” The awards were presented March 31 at RCC’s annual convention in Little Rock, AR.

Presbyterian winners chosen as “Best of Class” were:

  • Dianna Ott, Michelle Bingham, Shellee Layman, Carol Johnson and Mark Thomson of Creative Services in the “Public Relations Materials” class for the General Assembly Mission Council’s exhibit at the 219th General Assembly in Minneapolis;
  • Mindy Marchal of Creative Services in the “Audio and Video, Broadcast, Non-broadcast and Cable” class for the documentary video “Reason to Hope”;
  • Pamela Burdine and David Barnhart of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance in the same class for their television documentary “Coming Home: Hurricane Katrina Five Years Later”;
  • Thommy Browne and Bryce Hudson of Creative Services in the “Social Media” class for the Mission Crossroads social networking site.

Awards of Excellence went to:

  • Billie Healy of Mission Resources in the “miscellaneous periodicals” category for the 2011 Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study;
  • Mark Thomson of Creative Services in the ‘press kits/media kits” category for the Christmas Joy Offering;
  • Ott, Bingham, Layman, Johnson and Thomson (see above) in the “public relations–miscellaneous” category;
  • Yvonne Hileman of HORIZONS in the “specialized writing” category for her story on Presbyterian Women’s partners in the Democratic Republic of Congo;
  • Johnson, Thomson and Healy of Mission Resources in the “design/overall production” category for the Mission Yearbook;
  • Laura Lee and Debbie Paris of HORIZONS in the “design, publication cover” category for the March/April 2010 cover;
  • Lee in the “audio” category for “Journeys Through Revelation”;
  • Burdine and Barnhart (see above) in the “broadcast/cable TV, national program” category;
  • Marchal (see above) in the “video, documentary/informational” category;
  • McMahan, Browne and Hudson (see above) in the “social media-miscellaneous” category.

Certificates of Merit were awarded to:

  • Editor Eva Stimson and Designer Shellee Layman of Presbyterians Today in the “national magazine” category;
  • Thomson in the “national newsletter” category for the Presbyterian Hunger Program newsletter;
  • Susan Jackson-Dowd, Lee, Sharon Dunne Gillies and Ashley Meyer of HORIZONS in the “national magazines-single issue” category for the September/October 2010 issue;
  • Johnson in the “design-miscellaneous” category for the Healthy Women Healthy Families Mother’s Day cards.