Online entries for the DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards, open to RCC members, and the Wilbur Awards, for secular media outlets, are also now being accepted.

Info about both awards are posted here – with lots of resources available, including classes and categories, rules and criteria, what to submit, hot tips from past winners, the online entry forms, and previous award honorees.

The DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards are given annually to active members of the Religion Communicators Council who demonstrate excellence in religious communications and public relations.

The awards are named to honor the late Victor DeRose and the late Paul M. Hinkhouse, leading lithographers in New York City, and longtime friends of the RCC. Both men shared a strong interest in, and concern for, excellence in communications.

Since 1949, the Wilbur Awards have been presented annually to recognize excellence in the communication of religious issues, values, and themes in public secular media.

Through the awards, the RCC recognizes the work of individuals, production companies and agencies as they communicate about religious issues, values and themes with professionalism, fairness, respect and honesty. The award, which is reserved for the most outstanding entries each year, honors Marvin C. Wilbur, a pioneer in the field of religious public relations.

Past winners include Morgan Freeman, Oprah Winfrey, Jane Pauley, Mister Rogers, CBS Sunday Morning, ABC’s 20/20, Meet the Press, Vanity Fair, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and the New York Times.