North Georgia Communicators Honored at UMAC Awards Gala

Approximately 160 storytellers, including North Georgia Conference communication staff, gathered in New Orleans March 23-25 to “Embrace the Story” at the annual United Methodist Association of Communicators meeting.

Among the highlights of the event was the Awards Celebration Gala where United Methodist communicators were recognized for outstanding work. A total of 250 entries representing 300-400 contributors, across 10 classes of communication, bore witness to the shining of Christ’s Light at levels local to global.

The North Georgia Conference was honored with three awards in its division including first place in photography for Ansley Brackin's photo of Bishop Sharma Lewis standing before the SEJ Conference after her election as bishop. Sybil Davidson received a second place award in e-newsletters for "Weekly Conference Update." Both of the staff were awarded second place for social media for the Conference Facebook page. 

Mount Pisgah UMC in Johns Creek received two awards including first place for website content for staff members Marcy Heinz and Christian Janson. They won third place honor for social media for the church's Instagram page (pictured at right).  

The Georgia United Methodist Foundation won third place in print publications for Faith and Money edited by Diana Durie.
 
“Learning about each other’s work gives you ideas. It refreshes you and renews your spirit for telling the story," said Doreen Gosmire, member of the UMAC leadership team and associate director of communications for the Dakotas Conference, about the value of the competition.

“Those entries represent a massive amount of energy, time and resources,” she said. “It’s phenomenal the number of people out there telling the story of The United Methodist Church in so many different ways.”

The 2017 Hall of Fame Award inductee is Cate Monaghan, who retired from her role as communications director of the California-Nevada Conference in 2012. Bishop John Schol of the Greater New Jersey Area was on hand to introduce his director of communications, Carolyn Conover, as the 2017 Communicator of the Year. 

For a full list of UMAC award winners, visit www.umcommunicators.org/2017awardwinners.