wfn.org | UCC website wins bronze 'Webfish' award in international

[powellb@ucc.org]

--0__=cX3aiyH1eTgevMUgOHYKIt5f91Duu0MBIpXzPycqWAl7m20Es8loF0Yk
Content-type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Disposition: inline

competition
February 12, 2000
Office of Communication
United Church of Christ
Andy Lang, press contact
216-736-2215
<langl@ucc.org>
On the web:  <http://www.ucc.org>

HANOVER, GERMANY -- The United Church of Christ Website at http://ucc.org
has been named the third-best Christian website in the world.

The annual "Webfish" competition -- sponsored by the Protestant Church of
Germany (EKD)
--0__=cX3aiyH1eTgevMUgOHYKIt5f91Duu0MBIpXzPycqWAl7m20Es8loF0Yk
Content-type: text/plain; charset=windows-1257
Content-Disposition: inline
Content-transfer-encoding: quoted-printable

=97awarded the first-place prize to a Christian site in Germany,
"Nightlight Station," at <http://www.nightlight.de>. In second place wa=
s an
Austrian site called "Jesus.at" at <http://www.jesus.at>. The UCC websi=
te
is the first North American site to place in the top three.  One hundre=
d
Christian sites competing for the Webfish award were judged by a
professional jury of web designers and experts in information managemen=
t
and public relations, along with Christian theologians and church
officials.

The UCC site, they said, was distinguished by a "user-friendly" design.=
 But
in their evaluation, the judges said they were as much impressed by con=
tent
as by design.

The UCC website conforms to one of the fundamental principles of Web de=
sign
-- ease of use. But if it's true that "no one gets lost" on the UCC sit=
e,
that reflects the ethos of the UCC -- "that no one should be lost," the=

judges said.

That evaluation reflects the UCC's attempt to be a church that is
"multicultural, multiracial, affirming and open, and accessible to all.=
"
While the UCC website -- like the church as a whole -- is far from thos=
e
goals, the church's presence on the World Wide Web is an attempt to be
inclusive. Besides theological resources, online books, Bible study gui=
des
and information services for local congregations, the website also info=
rms
its users about a wide range of social issues and provides space where
church members can debate controversial topics.

"The surfer doesn't get lost and that's how it should be," the Protesta=
nt
jury in Germany said in their evaluation of the UCC website. "No human
being is lost -- as the UCC's message could be summarized. ... [T]his i=
s an
information resource that makes it worthwhile for us to take a look ove=
r
the Big Pond."

"Big Pond" is a German colloquialism for the Atlantic Ocean.  The jury
summarized their decision: "The UCC contribution to the Web, as the
third-place Webfish winner, deserves the prize for a site that shows th=
at
Christian faith can make an impression on this life, and is at home in =
all
areas of human life!"

The competition is organized every year by the Protestant Public Relati=
ons
Working Group, a communications agency sponsored by the EKD. The EKD is=
 a
federation of Lutheran, Reformed and United churches in Germany and is =
the
country's second-largest Christian denomination. The competition for
2000-2001 will be launched in September on the EKD website at
<http://www.ekd.de>.

The United Church of Christ, with national offices in Cleveland, has so=
me
1.4 million members and 6,000 congregations in the United States and Pu=
erto
Rico.  It was formed by the 1957 union of the Congregational Christian
Churches and the Evangelical and Reformed Church.
=

--0__=cX3aiyH1eTgevMUgOHYKIt5f91Duu0MBIpXzPycqWAl7m20Es8loF0Yk--