Surefish.co.uk, Christian Aid’s community website, has launched the Church Website of the Year competition.
The awards will recognise the best local, regional and national church websites, as well as the best blog, youth website and most innovative site.
The competition, which is being run in association with the Church Times, will recognise the voluntary work put in by thousands of people in the UK in designing, publishing and maintaining a church website.
Websites offer regular churchgoers, visitors and those new to an area an insight into the life and work of the church. They are one of the best and cheapest ways of promoting the location of the church, its activities, special events and regular services.
This competition not only recognises the websites of local churches, but those covering larger areas, such as synods, dioceses and connexions, as well as the national websites of churches and denominations.
It will also recognise the best Christian Blog, the best Christian youth website - either a site produced by young people or for young people - and the most innovative Christian website.
The public will be able to vote for their favourite site in a shortlist published in early June. The winners will be presented with their awards at a ceremony in central London in July.
Surefish editor Andy Jackson said: “One of the Surefish discussion forums offers users the chance to discuss church websites and so we thought it would be good to recognise the unsung heroes that work behind the scenes to promote the life and work of their churches online. They deserve the recognition.”
Paul Handley, Church Times editor, said: “A huge amount of creativity and enterprise can be found on church websites, much of it at near-professional standards, giving the lie to the idea that the Church is stuck in the past. We hope that these awards will showcase the best.”
To find out more about the awards, and to enter your church’s website, visit www.surefish.co.uk The closing date is 26 May, 2009.
