LCMS Communications, periodicals win awards

The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod’s Communications department and its official periodicals received a total of 13 awards from the Associated Church Press — and The Lutheran Witness received two “Higher Goals” awards from the Evangelical Press Association (EPA) — for work published in 2014.

The EPA awards, announced at the organization’s annual convention April 8-10 in Westminster, Colo., were:

fifth place, in the category “Single Photo: Candid,” to photojournalist Erik M. Lunsford, for a photo of a class discussion at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind., on Page 17 of the November 2014 issue.

fifth place, in “Single-Theme Section or Issue,” for the magazine’s June/July 2014 issue on Christian persecution. Named on the award are David Strand, executive director of LCMS Communications; Adriane Heins, managing editor of The Lutheran Witness; and Vicky Schaeffer, senior designer at Concordia Publishing House.

The EPA is a professional association of Christian publications — magazines, newspapers and newsletters — and websites. To see the complete list of awards, click here.

Awards from the Associated Church Press (ACP) were presented during this year’s joint ACP/Canadian Church Press convention, April 29-May 1 in Toronto, Canada.

First-place Award of Excellence “Best in Class” plaques were received for:

the LCMS website, designed by Becky Cummings, Rudy Blank and Paul Keup.

the “Become a Missionary” public-relations campaign, which included a poster designed by Erica Schwan and an infographic by Carolyn Niehoff, with coordination by Jennifer Duffy and writing by Communications staff.

Lutherans Engage the World online, in the category of “Digital Edition/Mobile Publication.” Named on the award are Cummings and Blank, Web designers; Pamela J. Nielsen, executive editor/writer; Melanie Ave and Megan K. Mertz, staff writers; and photojournalist Lunsford.

Receiving a second-place plaque in that same category was cph.org/witness, the online edition of The Lutheran Witness. Cited for their contributions are Heins, Schaeffer and Theresa Weaver of CPH.

A second-place Award of Merit plaque also was received for Communications’ news-service website — reporter.lcms.org — designed by Cummings, Blank, Keup and Sam Ambrose, with writing by department staff.

Third-place Honorable Mention “Best in Class” plaques were received for:

Lutherans Engage the World, in the category of “Denominational or other Special-Interest Magazine.” Cited for their efforts are Nielsen, Schwan, Niehoff, Ave, Mertz, Lunsford and graphic designer Chrissy Thomas.

Journal of Lutheran Mission, edited by Heins, in the “Journal” category.

LCMS Leader Blog — reporter.lcms.org/category/leader-blog — in the “Blog” category. Cited are Web designers Cummings, Blank, Keup, Ambrose and LCMS ministry staff writers.

Communications-produced periodicals also received five individual writing awards.

Honored with first-place Awards of Excellence were:

The Lutheran Witness, for “Leveling the Field” by Edie Wadsworth, in the category “Personally Useful Article.”

Lutherans Engage the World, for “Emotional and spiritual healing for hurting church workers” by Ave, in the category of “Feature Article: Magazine, Short Format.”

Third-place Honorable Mention awards were received by:

Reporter, for “Mercy Center opens in high-crime area of New York,” also by Ave, in the “News Story: Website/News Service/Blog” category.

Reporter, for “Grant expands care to immigrant children in Texas” by Kim Plummer Krull, in the “News Story: Newspaper/Newsletter” category.

Reporter, for “Newlyweds share ‘terror’ of Ferguson riots; Synod responds with prayer, presence” by Paula Schlueter Ross, in the “Feature Article: News Service/Website/Blog” category.

“We’ve had good years at the ACP awards in the past,” said David Strand, executive director of LCMS Communications, “but this year we enjoyed quite a bumper crop, especially when you consider how many of the awards — eight — were in the special-honor ‘Best in Class’ category.

“The gratifying thing about this year,” Strand said, “is that the awards touch on so many facets of our department’s work: print and online publications, graphic design, our electronic news service, the Synod’s Leader Blog, websites and public relations. This is a testament to the breadth of skills represented by our staff.”

The Associated Church Press, founded in 1916, is the oldest interdenominational religious press association in North America.

To see the complete list of winners in this year’s ACP “Best of the Christian Press Awards” competition, click here.

Posted May 5, 2015 / Updated May 6, 2015