WVUMC Communications Team recognized for their achievements


By Deborah Coble

Congratulations to our WVUMC Communications team, on being recognized for outstanding achievement during the 2020 United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC) awards gala.

The communications lead team was scheduled to attend the 2020 UMAC annual meeting in March, but COVID-19 caused the postponement and later cancellation of the annual event. So, a virtual Awards Gala, one of the highlights of the annual meeting, was held virtually instead.

UMAC honors the work of Communicators across the United Methodist Connection. There are two divisions: local church and annual conference, and agency and general board.

The West Virginia Conference Communications team brought home the following awards:

2nd place – electronic publication – Annual Conference 2019. George Hohmann Editor. The entire communications team contributors.

2nd place Website Content – wvumc.org Communications team and WVUMC conference staff.

3rd place photography – Deborah Coble for the Florence Memorial Fire; “Fire and Ashes”.

3rd place multi media – for the Seeds of Hope campaign. Led by Joe Webb and Jonathan Dierdorff, Bishop Sandra Steiner Ball, and Deborah Coble.

And United Methodist News Service won
first place for their series “Road to Recovery: the Opioid Crisis in West Virginia”. We are so grateful to UMNS for the ways they held and shared our WV story. Barry Steiner Ball and Deborah Coble were the WVUMC contacts for this project. You may read the series here: https://www.umnews.org/en/news/the-church-responds-to-the-opioid-crisis

Thank you to our outstanding Communications team for your dedication to sharing the stories of our West Virginia Conference while at the same time empowering and equipping our local churches to tell their stories.

UMAC (United Methodist Association of Communicators) is a professional organization representing laity and clergy who serve as Communicators (paid and unpaid) across the connection. Deborah Coble, the West Virginia Conference Director of Communications, serves on the UMAC board.