ST. LOUIS (ABP) — Associated Baptist Press writers received several awards — including a prestigious best-in-category honor — as part of a professional organization's annual awards competition.
The Baptist Communicators Association honored winners in their annual Wilmer C. Fields Awards Competition April 15, during the society's annual meeting in St. Louis. The group is comprised of hundreds of journalism and public-relations professionals working for Baptist publications, conventions, churches and other institutions.
For the fourth time, ABP Executive Editor Greg Warner was honored with the organization's Frank Burkhalter Award for significant achievement in religious newswriting. The judges awarded Warner the grand prize for his work covering the controversy over transfer of control of a Baptist hospital in Jibla, Yemen, in early 2003.
Warner reported that the Southern Baptist Convention's International Mission Board transferred control of the institution to an Islamic charity related to the Yemeni government. The transfer took place shortly after a Muslim shot four IMB missionaries at the hospital Dec. 30, 2002. The attack killed three of the workers and injured another.
The Jibla coverage also garnered Warner a first-place award in the competition's news writing division for a newspaper series.
ABP Washington Bureau Chief Robert Marus won a first-place award in the competition's news writing division for online publications. The award honored Marus' coverage of the controversy surrounding former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and his monument to the Ten Commandments.
In addition, Warner and Marus received a second-place award in interpretive reporting for a jointly authored single article from that series. The article was titled, “Roy Moore: Defender of Faith or Dangerous Demagogue?”
The competition also honored a freelance writer for his work in an ABP publication. Craig Bird received a first-place award in the magazine interpretive reporting division for his package on innovative churches in FaithWorks.
The competition was judged by journalism and public-relations professionals from Georgia organizations, including Atlanta Journal-Constitution religion editor Kevin Austin and Sam Jones, publisher of the Times-Herald in Newnan, Ga.
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