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Celebrate excellence, share best practice and encourage those serving God online.
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Submit an entry now and join the Awards ceremony on 2nd November!
Premier Digital Awards
The Premier Digital Awards are back for their 13th year and they seek to celebrate and encourage excellence in Christian engagement online. In the spirit of Philippians 4:8 our aim is to focus our attention on those people and projects that can serve as examples of best practice for the benefit of the Church.
Categories
Blog Section
Blogger of the Year
Open to all bloggers in the Christian community, this award celebrates bloggers who have published the most engaging, insightful and well-presented content over the past year.
Young Blogger of the Year
For anyone 25 or under on the 1st May 2019, this award celebrates young bloggers who have published the most engaging, insightful and well presented content over the past year.
Podcast of the Year
This category seeks to recognise Christian podcasts series that inform, entertain and engage their audience.
Multi-author Blog of the Year
This award recognises blog-sites that features the highest quality content draw from a breadth of well-informed contributors presented with clarity of design and purpose.
Up-and-coming Award
This award is open to anyone who has been blogging about their faith or the Christian community for less than one year as of 1st May 2019. It is recognises bloggers who have brought a truly fresh and credible voice to the Christian blogging world.
Most Inspiring Leadership Blog
Open to all Christian leaders (not exclusively Church leaders) who blog about their experiences and inspire others.
Website Section
Best Christian Organisation Website
For Christian organisations (business, charity, group) with a website that clearly communicates their message and engages their audience.
Best New or Redesigned Website
Open to all websites launched or redesigned since 1st September 2018. This award recognises websites that by design, content and purpose have added something new and fresh to the Christian web.
Most Engaging Large Church Website
For churches with congregations of more than 150, this award celebrates large church websites that engage Christians and seekers alike and present the local church in a clear and attractive manner.
Most Engaging Small Church Website
For churches with congregations of 150 or less, this award celebrates small church websites that engage Christians and seekers alike and present the local church in a clear and attractive manner.
Accessibility Award
Open to all websites relevant to the Christian community, whether disability focused or not. This Award recognises websites that have made an exemplary commitment to accessibility.
Digital Media Section
Best Use of Digital Media in Youth Work
For individuals or groups who have used digital media (audio, video, interactive media, games, micro-blogging etc.) in an innovative way to resource youth workers or engage young people online.
Influencer of the Year
This award recognises Christians who provide a positive influence and make the digital space a better place to be by regularly producing engaging and inspiring content for their audience.
App of the Year
This Award recognises a Christian individual, project or organisation that has produced a truly useful and effective mobile/tablet app.
People's Choice Award
For any Christian website, social media account or app that has made an impression on the public and deserves to be rewarded. Chosen by visitors to the Premier Digital Awards website.
Best use of Video
This award is for those that have created a video that clearly communicates the Christian message in a relevant way over the past year. The video can be aimed at either Christians or non-Christians.
Best Use of Social Media
Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or something totally different. This award looks to recognise excellent creativity, positivity and engagement in social media.
Meet the Judges
Each year our judges are chosen because of their experience and expertise with digital media. They represent a range of disciplines and backgrounds and we are grateful for the commitment and enthusiasm they bring to these Awards.
Pete Phillips
Revd Dr Pete Phillips is Director of CODEC, a research centre at Durham University exploring Digital Theology, Digital Discipleship, and Preaching and the Imagination. A Methodist minister, Pete teaches New Testament at Cranmer Hall, Durham as well as supervising research students and projects.
@pmphillips
Bex Lewis
Bex Lewis is a Senior Lecturer in Digital Marketing for the Manchester Metropolitan University. Apart from being a published author (Raising Children in a Digital Age 2014) Bex runs a digital consultancy (Digital Fingerprint), launched the Big Bible website and has a PhD in the area of wartime propaganda.
@drbexl
James Doc
James works for The Globe Church with the made up job title of Digital Ministry Developer. His focus is on looking at how church ministry can be equipped and assisted by digital tools. He is also one of the leaders of Kingdom Code a group for Christians working in the tech industry, thinking about how their faith and technology intersect, both in the work place and in the church.
Mike Townsend
An experimental eye operation at the age of eight caused Mike to become totally blind. He’s been involved over many years with Torch Trust, RNIB and Guide Dogs, he’s also the longest-serving deacon at his home church, Fleckney Baptist Church in the Midlands. Mike is the president of the British Computer Association of the Blind.
Chine McDonald
Chine is Head of Christian Influence & Engagement at World Vision UK. She read theology at Cambridge University, where she was also news editor of the university newspaper Varsity. Since then, she has written for several regional and national newspapers and magazines. Chine is the author of 'Am I Beautiful?' – a book exploring body image among Christian women. She is a former trustee of the Bible Society and currently sits on the boards of the Church & Media Network, the Christian Enquiry Agency and the Sophia Network, which equips women in leadership across the Church.
David Adabale
David is the Head of Media at New Wine church in Woolwich. Spends most of his time on innovative ways of enhancing New Wine’s media outreach, as well as managing the media team of 80+ members; which he grew from a membership 2 to 80. This team delivers various media projects/productions both within and outside New Wine Church including over 300 television programs, 200 radio programmes every year, as well as hundreds of online videos, DVD Productions, TV adverts and social media content.
FAQs
When do entries close?
22 July 2019.
Who is eligible to enter the awards?
The awards are open to UK residents only.
Can I nominate myself?
You can, about 40% of entries are self-nominations
Can I nominate someone else?
You can, about 60% of entries are nominations of other peoples sites, accounts, apps etc.
What happens after I enter or nominate?
Once entries are closed, all entries go through a short listing process to ensure eligiblity and correct categorisation. A selected shortlist of the best is then passed to the judging panel.
When will the shortlist be announced?
In September 2019. Those on the shortlist will be contacted directly if they entered themselves, or through the contact details we find on their website or Twitter account. If you are on the list and don't here from us please get in contact.
How are the awards judged?
Each year a panel of judges independently score the sites on the shortlist according to a selection of general criteria and then specific criteria for each category. These scores are aggregated to find a winner and runner up in each category.
How do you pick the judges?
Judges are picked to represent a selection of skills, backgrounds and perspectives. The judging panel is refreshed each year.
When is the awards ceremony?
The evening of Saturday 2nd November 2019 at The Brewery in the City of London. If you book a ticket to attend the dinner, you will be refunded if you are invited as a finalist.
What can I win?
A great looking trophy, certificate, digital trophy for your site, free entry to the Premier Digital Conference and Awards dinner along with a great prize like a digital camera or tablet computer.
Do I have to be a Christian to enter the awards?
No, but your entry must have relevance to the Christian community and a Christian ethos.
Do you vet the theology of entries?
The Premier Digital Awards is for the Church with a capital 'C', and so we encourage entries from across the breadth of the Christian community. One of the joys of the Awards is the sheer diversity of Christian witness on display, from nuns to Christian goths, reformed to pentecostal, liberal to conservative.
Can I sponsor the awards or parts of it?
Can I get some feedback on my entry?
Sadly not, the vast number of entries (over 1000 each year) means we cannot provide feedback on any entries.
Why do an Awards Ceremony?
Sometimes people ask if awards ceremonies are elitist, or perhaps feed a celebrity culture in the Church. Premier started these awards in 2007 in order to a) encourage those who otherwise would not get recognition for their work as they often work 'behind the scenes' and b) to share best practice so that the church is better able to communicate the good news in a digital age. But we should judge a tree by its fruit; from these awards we see hard work and excellence recognised, people encouraged, best practice reinforced and shared across the church. The effect on the churches, bloggers, mission agencies and other organisations that have made the finals over the years has been fed back to us as supremely positive in helping their mission.
How do you enter the Premier Digital Awards?
There is an entry form near the top of the page.
2018 Highlights
On Saturday 4th November we celebrated the best in Christian digital endeavour at the Premier Digital Awards 2017.
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The finalists are testimony to the great creativity and passion within the Christian community. To find out who won click here.
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Below is a selection of photos from the night.
Awards Highlights
