wfn.org | UMAC names Skillington 'communicator of year'

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Nov. 9 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom·(212) 870-3803·New York     {653}

NOTE:  A photograph of Jim Skillington is available. This story can be
used with UMNS #654.

ORLANDO, Fla. (UMNS) - The founder of an ecumenical disaster relief
Internet site has been recognized by the United Methodist Association of
Communicators (UMAC). 

The Rev. James E. Skillington, a United Methodist pastor and
communicator from Baltimore, received the group's 1988 United Methodist
Distinguished Communicator of the Year during its Nov. 6 annual awards
banquet.

Four people also were inducted into the United Methodist Communicators
Hall of Fame: John Lovelace of Dallas, Winston Taylor of Silver Springs,
Md., the Rev. Kenneth Horn of Charlotte, N.C., and the late Bishop W.T.
Handy Jr.

A former communications director for the United Methodist
Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, Skillington serves as executive
director of Kaleidoscope Ministries of Baltimore. Kaleidoscope, a
nondenominational communications service, operates an online news
magazine called Village Life at http://www.villagelife.org

During the past year, he has launched a disaster relief information
network through the World Wide Web, at http://disasternews.net on the
Internet. The Web site includes up-to-date information about natural
disasters and relief efforts, particularly work by faith groups.
Information about volunteering and making donations through specific
relief organizations also is posted. Disaster News Network has received
financial support from a variety of organizations, including the United
Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) and United Methodist
Communications (UMCom).

The hall of fame is reserved for retired people who have demonstrated a
lifetime of notable accomplishments in communications within the United
Methodist Church.

Lovelace, editor emeritus of the United Methodist Reporter, served on
the staff of the Dallas-based newspaper from 1981 to 1997. He also was
founding editor of the United Methodist Publishing House's Newscope
newsletter for church leaders, now in its 25th year, and news editor of
the short-lived United Methodist Today Magazine and Today's Ministry, a
clergy supplement of the magazine.

Taylor, director of UMCom's Washington office from 1960 to 1982, was
honored for his reporting of racial and peace movements during that
period as well as his ecumenical free-lance editing and writing. He was
manager of the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association, a trade group
of 120 newspapers, from 1984 to 1988.

Horn spent more than 20 years in communications ministries with the
United Methodist Western North Carolina Annual Conference. His work
included the formation of a conference television ministry with a
$100,000 annual budget and the creation of a conference media center.
His acclaimed "Circuit Rider" television spots aired nationwide in the
early 1980s.

Handy was honored posthumously for his work as a publishing
representative and vice president for personnel services at the United
Methodist Publishing House from 1968 to 1976. He was elected bishop in
1980 and led the church's Missouri area until his retirement in 1992. He
died last Easter in Nashville.

Many other church communicators were recognized during the awards
program. Winning best of division honors and awards of excellence were:

* Barbara Dunlap-Berg and J. Fred Rowles, UMCom, winners of the award of
excellence for video and films. The other best of division winners were
Erik Gernard and Brady Shierling.
* Bill Wolfe, UMCom, winner of the award of excellence for radio. The
other best of division winners were Tim McDaniel, Mark Westmoreland and
Alice Smith.
* Robert Rempfer, Good News, won the award of excellence for the
Internet. The other best of division winners were Bill Norton and James
Steele.
* Terri Hiers, Bret Haines and Kathy Gilbert, United Methodist Board of
Higher Education and Ministry, winners of the award of excellence for
brochures and promotional materials. The other best of division winner
was Emily Grote.
* Alma Graham, Christie House, Roger Sadler and Hal Sadler, United
Methodist Board of Global Ministries, as winners of the award of
excellence for special sections or supplements. Other best of division
winners were Mark Westmoreland, Libby Vicars, Kelly Holton and LeeAnne
Thornton.
* Dunlap-Berg, winner of the award of excellence for special promotion
campaign. The other best of division winners were Kathy Kruger Noble,
Diane Balay and Tom Gibson.
* Hiers, Haines and Gilbert, winners of the award of excellence in
publicity and advertising. The other best of division winner was Ruth
Kurtz.
* Hiers, Haines and Gilbert, winners of the award of excellence in
special publications. The other best of division winners were Celinda
Hughes, McDaniel and Paul Jeffrey.
* Mike DuBose, UMCom, winner of the award of excellence in photography.
The other division winner was Jeffrey.
* Nancye Willis, UMCom, winner of the award of excellence for artwork.
* Lynne Bevan DeMichele, Hoosier (Ind.) United Methodist News, winner of
the Robert Storey Award of Excellence for a newspaper. The other best of
division winners were Jane Dennis and R. Thomas Slack.
* Hiers, Haines and Gilbert, winners of the award of excellence for
newsletters. The other division winners were Slack and Joe Sigler.
* Sandra Brands, Mary Edlund, Steve Rossi and Meredythe Jones Rossi,
Northern Spirit (Minnesota), winners of the award of excellence for
magazines. The other best of division winners were Suzanne Story and
Steve Beard.
* Dan Gangler, Kathryn Self and Balay, United Methodist Reporter,
winners of the award of excellence for writing. The other best of
division winner was Donna Fisher.  

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