The Religion Communicators Council (RCC) is an association of communications professionals who work for and with a diverse group of faith-based organizations in the areas of communications, public relations, advertising and development. Founded in 1929, it’s the oldest organization of its type and one of the oldest PR‑related organizations in existence. Learn more about RCC here.

The DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards are named in honor of Victor DeRose and Paul Hinkhouse, two early communications professionals who truly cared about religious communication. Awards are given annually to active members of the Religion Communicators Council who demonstrate excellence in religious communications and public relations. Members compete in a number of classes and categories, and the awards are highly anticipated and valued.

Since 1949, the Wilbur Awards have been presented annually to recognize excellence in the communication of religious issues, values, and themes in public secular media.

The Wilbur Award is named in honor of Marvin C. Wilbur, a pioneer in the field of religious public relations. Each coveted Wilbur stained glass trophy is individually hand-crafted—an eloquent thank-you for excellent work! Winners are acknowledged in person at our annual convention, through media releases and on the RCC website.

Judges are themselves active or retired communications professionals or academics. They have experience as writers, editors, illustrators and other fields covered by our entry categories.

Judges for the DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards are not necessarily in the field of religion communication, and many have worked for secular media outlets or in higher education. They care about the field, and they care about communications practitioners.

Judges for the Wilbur Awards are generally members and associates of the Religion Communicators Council.

Yes! RCC members are encouraged to serve both programs. For the DeRose-Hinkhouse program, RCC members will be assigned to a Judging Group in which they and their organization have no entries.

The numerous classes and categories are broken down into Blocks. Depending on the number of entries, a Block may consist of a whole class, several categories, or even just one category or subcategory. Judges are given access to all the entries in their Block(s) and review them online.

No! Communicators do not live in silos. Writers can know good photography; photographers can know good writing. Any communications professional may judge any Block.

The rules and criteria page lists several judging criteria. For each entry, judges review its summary and the linked or attached work(s). Scores for each criterion are entered, 1 – 10 (worst – best). This is a subjective evaluation, which we consider appropriate in a field that typically aims to influence opinions. Judges are also asked to give a few sentences of feedback for each entry.

Entries are divided into Blocks in an effort to not overburden our judges. It is estimated that each Block will take a couple hours to complete. Judging is done on your own schedule, at your own pace. It opens mid February and must be completed by the deadline, which is February 28, 2026.

We ask that you commit to finishing your Block(s) by the deadline. If you can’t or don’t, we will have to remove all of your scoring from the system. Please don’t be offended–there is just no way to fairly calculate a final score in a Block if a judge does not complete the whole group.

At this time, judging is a volunteer activity. Judges have found it very uplifting to review the stellar work of our entrants, and we hope you will find reward in supporting their efforts.

All judges will be recognized and thanked for their work in the program and on our website. Additionally, judges’ names will be included with their feedback for entrants in the DeRose-Hinkhouse Awards.

Contact Rev. Brian Fesler, Coordinator of the DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards or Brad Pomerance, Coordinator of the Wilbur Awards.