wfn.org | Bob Robertson, other communicators honored

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.ORG>]

Nov. 12, 2001 News media contact: Linda Green7(615)742-54707Nashville, Tenn.
10-71BP{526}

NOTE: A photograph is available.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (UMNS)-The Rev. R.L. "Bob" Robertson, director of
communications for the North Texas Annual (regional) Conference, has been
named the Distinguished Communicator of the Year 2001 by his peers in the
United Methodist Church.

Robertson said he was "amazed and shocked" to receive the honor, which was
announced at the Nov. 9 awards banquet of the United Methodist Association
of Communicators (UMAC). 

"The United Methodist Church and its predecessor, the Methodist Church, has
provided this person a place of service for over 50 years," he said. "... It
has been an honor to serve the denomination across the connection."

The banquet was the climax of a Nov. 8-10 meeting that drew more than 120
communicators from around the denomination to Nashville.

The communicator of the year award is given to the person who exemplifies
religious communication in the United Methodist Church.

Robertson, 70, an ordained minister, formerly served the Central Texas and
North Texas conferences when they were joined in the Old Dallas-Fort Worth
Area. He was active in the organization of UMAC in the 1970s, when it was
established as the successor to the Methodist Press Association. He was
elected president of the organization in 1976.
	
In the North Texas Conference, Robertson was the creative force behind a
successful three-year innovative outreach program called "Home for
Christmas," combining advertising in the media with local church
involvement. 

Three other church journalists were inducted into the association's hall of
fame. They were Betty Thompson, former information officer for the United
Methodist Board of Global Ministries and ecumenical groups; the Rev. Keith
Pohl, former editor of both the Michigan Christian Advocate and Circuit
Rider magazine; and the Rev. William Fore, a United Methodist clergyman who
headed the Communication Commission of the National Council of Churches for
25 years.

Thompson, of New York, was previously honored by UMAC in 1994, when she
received the Communicator of the Year Award. As former director of public
relations for the Board of Global Ministries, she spent 30 years with the
agency, serving primarily as the board's spokeswoman and liaison with church
and secular media. Before joining the agency, she was director of public
relations for the World Council of Churches.

The first woman editor-at-large of The Christian Century, Thompson also is a
recipient of the William B. Lippard Award, the highest recognition by the
Associated Church Press for distinguished service in religious journalism.

Pohl, a hall of fame inductee from Mason, Mich., served as editor of the
conference newspaper from 1973 to 1980. His professional career also
includes stints as a church pastor and director of the Wesley Foundation at
Michigan State University.

A clergy member of the Michigan Annual Conference, he was named editor of
Circuit Rider, a magazine for United Methodist clergy, in 1976. He retired
from that position in 1993.

Fore, of Escondido, Calif., spent much of his career in ecumenical religious
communications. After 25 years with the National Council of Churches, he
resigned in 1988 to return to Yale University, where he had received a
bachelor of divinity degree, to lecture on communication and help devise a
curriculum that included forms of communications other than preaching. He
was also the founder of the National Coalition Against Censorship and served
as its chairman from 1971 to 1988. 

Fore currently serves as Web master of "Religion Online" at
www.religion-online.org and visiting professor at United Theological
Seminary in Bangalore, India. 

Winners of best division citations and awards of excellence for work in 2001
were:

7	Newspapers - Award of excellence and best of division to The United
Methodist Reporter, Cynthia Astle, Diane Huie Balay, Susan Barton, Michael
Clements, William Fentum, Paul McKay and Keith Head; and best of division to
UM Connection, Baltimore-Washington Annual Conference, Dean Snyder, Melissa
Lauber and Carol Hammer; United Methodist Reporter, Memphis Conference,
Cathy Farmer.
	
7	Magazines - Award of excellence to Interpreter, Garlinda Burton,
Gwendolyn Colvin, Suzanne Story, Joey Butler and Tanya Simmons; and best of
division to United Methodists in Service, Sang Yean Cho, Seungmin Baka and
Ivy Brown.
	
7	Brochures and promotional materials-Award of excellence and best of
division to Celinda Hughes, United Methodist Communications (UMCom); and
best of division to Kathy White in association with Shawn Beatty, Western
Pennsylvania Conference.
	
7	Publicity and advertising -- Award of excellence to Celinda Hughes,
UMCom; and best of division to Sara Perez, UMCom.
	
7	Special publications - Award of excellence and best of division to
Frank DeGregorie and Marcy Kass, UMCOR-United Methodist Board of Global
Ministries; and best of division to Paul Widicus, Illinois Great Rivers
Conference.
	
7	Videos and films - Award of excellence and best of division to
Celinda Hughes, UMCom; and best of division to Mike Dubose, UMCom.
	
7	Internet - Award of excellence and best of division to Beth A.
Richardson and Sarah B. Parsons, the Upper Room; and best of division to
Mark Nugent, North Georgia Conference.
	
7	Writing - Awards of excellence to Paul Jeffrey, a United Methodist
missionary in Honduras, and John Lovelace, writing for the North Texas
United Methodist Reporter.
	
7	Photography - Award of excellence to Jon Warren, New World Outlook,
United Methodist Board of Global Ministries; and best of division to Paul
Jeffrey, missionary to Honduras, and Joshua Lewis, Louisiana Conference
	
7	Artwork - Award of excellence and best of division to Laura O'Neal,
Good News magazine, Wilmore, Ky.; and best of division to Carol Pittard
Hammer, Baltimore Washington Conference.
	
7	Special section or supplement - Award of excellence and best of
division to Alvin J. Horton, Brenda S. Capen and Debra A. Duty, Virginia
United Methodist Advocate; and best of division to Alma Graham, Christie R.
House, Frank DeGregorie and Hal Sadler, New World Outlook.
	
7	Church-related institution, other denomination or secular - Award of
excellence to Lenore Vickery, Alabama-West Florida Conference, Frazer
Memorial United Methodist Church.
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