The Iowa Conference Communications Ministry Team received three awards from the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC) during the 2021 UMAC Virtual Awards Gala on March 10, 2021. The gala celebrates the ministry and creativity of United Methodist Communicators across the connection.
Iowa Conference Communications team members Liz Winders and Courtney Levin, along with United Methodist News photographer Mike DuBose and reporter Joey Butler collaborated on covering the 2020 derecho recovery. They received a second-place award in the Article Series Category, Annual Conference/Local Church Division.
This series included seven Faith in Action reports on how churches, ministries, and people from the Iowa United Methodist Church made a difference and changed lives following the disaster:
Director of Communications, Liz Winders, received a first-place award in the Non-Fiction Story, Annual Conference/Local Church Division for “With a little nudge from God, Monique Shore turns her children’s message into a book.”
Winders and Levin also received a third-place award in the Campaign/Strategic Planning Category, Annual Conference/Local Church Division for the 2019 Advent Daily Devotions series that included daily devotional emails submitted by Iowa UMC clergy and Facebook and Instagram posts during Advent.
Hundreds of submitted entries were judged by members of the secular media. There were ten classes with multiple categories within each class, including writing, news articles, audio, and internet communications.
UMAC is a professional organization geared to support the work of every United Methodist communicator serving the Church throughout the connection through resources, engagement, continuing education, sharing of ideas, networking, spiritual support, and more.