The Minnesota Conference communications team received 10 awards from the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC) at the organization’s annual meeting last week in New Orleans—and Director of Communications Christa Meland received the top writing award.

Members of the secular media served as judges and selected the winners from hundreds of submissions. The awards honored the efforts of 160 communicators within annual conferences, general agencies, and local churches. Their entries, across 10 categories, bore witness to the shining of Christ’s light from the local level to the global level.

The Minnesota Conference’s awards include:

• Donn Doten Award of Excellence/Best in Class: “Northern Light’s ‘love letter to Orlando’ reaches United Methodist pastor”
• 1^st place feature story: “Northern Light’s ‘love letter to Orlando’ reaches United Methodist pastor”
• 1^st place e-newsletter: MN Connect
• 1^st place single piece publicity & advertising: 2015-2016 Missional Report
• 2^nd place website: www.minnesotaumc.org
• 2^nd place print publications: Quarterly Reach • Renew • Rejoice “Breakthroughs” newsletter
• 2^nd place video: The ELI Project promo
• 3^rd place single piece publicity & advertising: Camp Minnesota 2016 catalog
• 3^rd place video: “Serving lunch and living the gospel in LaCrescent”
• Honorable mention special publications—2015-2016 Missional Report
 
“It is such a privilege to be able to hear firsthand stories of churches and individuals in our conference working to build the kingdom—and to then have the opportunity to try to do justice to those stories through our communications platforms,” said Meland. “There are so many wonderful stories to tell, and so many passionate clergy and laity making disciples and making a difference in their communities and the world. Also, big thank you to Amanda Willis, our former communications associate, who left the conference in December to pursue another opportunity but whose strong graphic design work contributed significantly to many of the award-winning pieces.”

Communicators from the Minnesota Conference and the Dakotas Conference work closely together to maximize their skills, particularly when it comes to video and print projects. Several of the award-winning pieces were collaborative efforts.

“Dakotas Conference communicators Doreen Gosmire and David Stucke played a significant and critically important role in producing the Minnesota Conference’s high-quality videos, and I am so grateful to them for their outstanding work and their partnership in ministry,” said Meland.

The Dakotas Conference received 12 awards, including Best in Class for a “Living Generously” promotional video series.

Gosmire, director of communications for the Dakotas Conference and a member of the UMAC leadership team, has organized the UMAC awards for the past two years. “Learning about each other’s work gives you ideas,” she said about the competition. “It refreshes you and renews your spirit for telling the story.”

Click here for the complete list of awards.
Click here for a video of the full awards ceremony. 
Click here for photos from the ceremony.