Christian New Media Awards

The fifth year of the Christian New Media Awards on Friday, were held at a beautiful and appropriate venue - St Stephen Walbrook Church in the City of London, home of the London Internet Church http://ststephenwalbrook.net.

Around 100 activists in Christian internet media sat at tables named after internet gurus such as Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates around the famous Henry Moore circular stone altar, and beneath the 63 foot high dome designed by Sir Christopher Wren. The evening was dedicated to the use of innovation and creativity in digital media.

The night was opened by Richard Chartres, the Anglican Bishop of London, who said that award nominees “were working at the frontier of Christian mission” and paid particular tribute to Premier Christian Radio “which has stood by this event” www.premierradio.org.uk. It was hosted by Krish Kandiah, Director of the UK Evangelical Alliance, and Premier Christian Radio presenter Maria Rodrigues-Toth. She was thanked for coming up with the original idea for the awards and was among Catholics present. Others included Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton, Abbot Christopher Jamison (a regular Tweeter) and Clare Ward of the Home Mission desk at the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales. Premier Christian Radio launched the awards in 2007 in recognition of the power and potential of communication in the digital age and the aim has been to encourage and reward innovation and creativity in the Christian community annually. In particular, the awards look to commend those who use new media to reach out to the wider world in an ever more sophisticated media landscape.

‘Creative Agency of the Year’ was won by Contrapositive www.contrapositive.tv which produced the presentation ‘A heart that sees, a heart that serves’ which was shown at the Hyde Park vigil during the papal visit last year. The ‘Best Large Church Website’ was Regeneration Church in Essex, see: www.regenerationchurch.co.uk and the ‘Best use of Media in Social Action’ was Witney-based Open Doors found at: www.youth.opendoorsuk.org.

Various blogs were noted for their creativity and the Leigh Road Baptist Church at Leigh-on-Sea in Essex was honoured for the accessibility of its website for disabled users www.lrbc.org.uk.

There were regular breaks from proceedings to vote on topics regarding Christian churches and new media and this was done using devices on each table. 63% thought that all churches should be encouraged to set up a website. Facebook was preferred over Twitter for promotional work. In response to a question about the primary aims of churches on-line, 70% thought it should be building relationships, 15% spreading the gospel and only 5% campaigning for justice.

The trophies given out carried a representation of a fish as a Christian symbol, but prizes also included items useful to people active in new media – Kinect-Xbox, Kindle keyboard Wi-fi and digital cameras.