Earlier this spring we held The Juicys for the first time since 2015. The Juicys are the only church communication awards program in North America. These awards allow us to both honor churches and communicators for the work they’re doing, as well as share stories and encouragement from the winners for churches around the globe. Over the next several weeks we’ll talk more in-depth with each winner, share their story, and offer applicable advice to other churches, too.
Here are this year’s winners:
Branding
The winner in the branding category is the project that most successfully created a new identity for a specific ministry, church, or area. The Juicy for branding goes to Old Cutler Presbyterian Church in Miami, Florida. Old Cutler’s children’s ministry struggled to reach new families in the church. The rebranding of their kids area opened the way to an immediate rise in connections with these young families.
Communication Strategy
We spend a lot of time talking about strategy, why it’s important, and how it can benefit the church and its communications. This year’s strategy winner created an entire campaign around communicating the church’s vision and values strategically. Encounter Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, did a great job. In an upcoming article, we’ll talk about what exactly led to Encounter’s decision to build a strategy around their values, and how they succeeded in doing that well.
Web Design
In May, we created a full month’s-worth of free resources for churches, all in the area of church websites. Hope Church in New York City wanted to create a clean, simplified point of connection for potential guests to church locations throughout the city. When we talk about this year’s web design winner, we’ll dig into what makes a great website and why this particular website works so well.
Print Design
A lot of us wish we could lighten our weekly workload by getting rid of printed materials all together. However, print is still a great way to communicate effectively in the church. From weekly bulletins, to flyers, posters, mailers, and more—when designed well—print materials serve a very clear purpose. This year’s Juicy winner, Calvary Church in Roseville, Minnesota, created a brand new newsletter to communicate more effectively all that’s happening in the church to their congregation and community. We’ll talk about why they decided to create a newsletter, and how it’s working out.
Creative Use
It’s fun to see how creative churches can be in how they communicate in their church and surrounding community. This year’s winner, The First Church in Albany, New York, chose to take part in a downtown business art project to tell the community about their food pantry. When we dig into their use of art in communication, we’ll talk about how they came up with the idea, and share some insights in how your church can be creative in what you’re communicating too.
I’d love to hear what your church is doing to energize its church communications, too! Come join our Facebook community and share your story.
