The Church of Ireland Diocese of Connor

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Connor winners in Church of Ireland Communications Competition

Monday May 8th 2017

The Cathedral Digest (St Anne’s, Belfast) won a first prize and Connor Connections was highly commended.

There were a number of Connor winners in the Central Communications Board’s 2017 Communications Competition.

Results for the best newsletters/magazines, websites, innovative use of social media and videos by parishes, dioceses and church organisations were announced on Saturday May 6 at the Church of Ireland General Synod in Limerick.

For the second year running, Belfast Cathedral picked up three awards – taking first place in the Other/Affiliated organisation magazines category; the Other/Affiliated organisation website category and, the Most Engaging Blog.

Connor Diocese was Highly Commended in the Diocesan Magazine category, and Ballymena Parish was runner-up in the most innovative use of social media category.

The awards were announced by the Most Rev Pat Storey, Bishop of Meath and Kildare and Chairman of the Central Communications Board. The competition was run by the Church of Ireland Press Office but externally and professionally judged. This year, the prizes in the website and social media and video categories were very generously sponsored by Ecclesiastical Insurance.

There was praise for all the entrants for their efforts in communicating within their own contexts in each category, with convincing evidence of communication work of a high standard across the island.

St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, (www.belfastcathedral.org) launched its new website just weeks ago. It picked up the top prize in the Other/affiliated organisation websites category.

The judges said:

“St Anne’s has ‘a good, clear solid design to reflect the cathedral status, a strong colour scheme, vibrant high quality photos and clear navigation. It has helpful, clear, tailored information and it is aimed at the visitor and worshipper alike. It also loads well on an i–phone.”

Awarding St Anne’s first place in the Other/Affiliated organisation magazines category for its Cathedral Digest, which is published six times a year, the judges commented: “Strong layout, good amount of news and some interesting articles. Good ratio of words and pictures for an A5 size. An enjoyable read.”

The Dean of Belfast, the Very Rev John Mann, who has penned almost 400 blogs since he began his twice weekly online reflections (http://belfastcathedral.org/news/deans-blog), was praised by the judges for his ‘regular blogging with a clear and consistent approach and nice length of blogs and good sharing options.’

Earning the runner up spot in the Most Innovative Use of Social Media (Parish) category, Ballymena Parish was praised for:

“A good use of photos and video to show church life; numerous tabs; regular updating with over 650 followers, open to visitors but inwardly focused and a good explanation under ‘parish and clergy’ in the ‘About us’ section.”

The Connor Diocesan magazine Connor Connections, which is distributed free to 11,000 households three times a year, was commended in the Diocesan Magazines category for being ‘a clean and spacious design with good photos and news stories.’

The full list on winners can be found on the Church of Ireland General Synod website.

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