Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) communicators won 15 DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards from the Religion Communicators Council (RCC) at the RCC’s annual awards banquet April 12 in Philadelphia.

 The DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards ― named after two New York lithographers ― are given annually to active RCC members who demonstrate excellence in religious communications and public relations. The 2012 awards ― given for work produced in 2011 ― were chosen from among 232 entries. 

Two of the 16 PC(USA) awards were “Best in Class” ― the most prestigious of the RCC awards: 

  • Dianna Ott, director of Creative Services, in the Public Relations Materials category for the 2010 General Assembly Mission Council annual report, entitled “We are Grateful for the Numbers.
  • Chris Herlinger in the Writing for Publication category for his story "Haiti: A Year Later" in the March 2011 issue of Presbyterians Today. Herlinger serves on the staff of Church World Service.

Presbyterians Today won four other awards: 

  •  An Award of Excellence (1st place) in the Magazine News, single story category for Herlinger’s Haiti article. 
  • A Certificate of Merit (2nd place) in the National Magazine category for Presbyterians Today, edited by Eva Stimson. 
  • A Certificate of Merit in the Magazine Article, single article category for Paul Seebeck, communications associate, for his story in the September 2011 issue of Presbyterians Today entitled  “A Radical Experiment.” 
  • A Certificate of Merit in the Overall Design category for Shellee Layman, the magazine’s art director for the November 2011 issue.

 PC(USA) communicators won five other Awards of Excellence:

  • Ott in the Annual Report category for the GAMC’s 2010 annual report (published in 2011). 
  • Billie Healy, editor of the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, in the Miscellaneous Single Issue Publication category for the 2012 edition of the yearbook (published in 2011). 
  • Mark Thomson, Creative Services’ desktop publishing associate, in the Special Print Material category for PC(USA) mission co-worker prayer cards. 
  • Carol Johnson, a designer in Creative Services, and Pamela Burdine of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance in the Advertisement category for their PDA ad entitled “Be­cause No Place on Earth is Godforsaken.”
  • David Barnhart of Presbyterian Disaster Assistance in the Video, Documentary/Educational category for “Seeds and Tools: Starting a New Life, Part 1.”

Four other Certificates of Merit were awarded to PC(USA) communicators: 

  • Thomson in the Brochure category for the Presbyterian Hunger Program Brochure. 
  • Thomson in the Press Kits/Media Kits category for the PC(USA)’s Mission Funding Campaign materials. 
  • Barnhart in the Video, Documentary/Educational category for  “Joseph’s Story, Part 1.” 
  • Susan Jackson Dowd and Laura Lee of Presbyterian Women in the Miscellaneous Video category for “Confessing the Beatitudes: Companion DVD.”