Accolades for Down and Dromore in Communications competition
The Diocese of Down and Dromore features prominently amongst the winners of the Central Communications Board 2012 Communications Competition, announced on Saturday 12 May, by the Archbishop of Armagh at the General Synod.
The competition was run by the Church of Ireland Press Office but externally and professionally judged. There was praise to all the entrants for their efforts in communicating within their own contexts in each category, with clear evidence of communication work of a very high standard across the island.
In the Parish magazines/newsletters category, first prize went to Shankill Parish Church, Lurgan for their ‘FOCUS’ magazine:
“This magazine is in its infancy, having so far produced issues for Christmas and Easter (with these well tied–in to those seasons); however, it stands out as an exciting initiative and a superior product. The quality of design and production is exceptional, happily matched by very strong content drawn from a variety of sources with good photos. The focus on people’s stories is exemplary and the content and design will cleverly appeal to all age groups. It is always good to hear the stories of people’s lives before reading their obituaries! This magazine meets the needs of the church community but also shows evidence of wider community engagement and should prove to be a strong outreach tool.”
In the Parish websites category Holywood Parish was runner up and Willowfield Parish was highly commended:
“Holywood’s parish website, previously successful in this competition (winner last year), continues to be a great site. It is colourful, up–to–date and includes a good ‘I’m new here’ feature, tweets and good pictures. Another advantage is that the user doesn’t have to scroll down the page unnecessarily.”
“In recognition of the stiff competition in this category, it was felt that a Highly Commended prize was also required, which goes to Willowfield Parish Church, Belfast for its site. This site is very good, with easy and effective navigation and strong use of pictures.”
In the Diocesan websites category this site, Down and Dromore, won first place and
in the ‘Other’ affiliated organizations website category, equal first place went to
Down & Dromore Youth
along with St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin:
“The Down & Dromore diocesan website works extremely well, giving a good impression of lively diocesan activity while being informative, engaging, unstuffy and – crucially – current. Its highly impressive variety of content is cleanly presented.”
“The DDYC site is informative, useful and friendly in appearance in a way which will appeal especially to its target audience – with lots of colourful icons and links.”
Finally, the 2012 competition again invited entries for the most innovative use of ‘social media’ over and beyond websites. Here, the competition was looking to see how churches, church organizations and members engaged with the manifold developments in social networking. Reflecting increased activity in this arena, we have first, second and highly commended awards:
First Place went to,
‘The Dock’
in the Diocese of Down and The Good Book Shop was runner–up:
“The Dock Church in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter does an excellent job in bringing together website, facebook, blog and flickr with lots of great images and video clips. It is an enticing way into engaging with this venture, overflowing with energy and enthusiasm. The posts to the blog are regular and the other elements have frequent updates.”
Download the full list of winners here.