CB&WA 2007: the video
We've compiled a short promotional video of last year's event - watch it now by clicking "play" in the window below.
The gala - a short summary
September 2007 saw the first Christian Blog and Web Awards, held at St Stephen Walbrook, London. Christians from all corners of the industry gathered to celebrate the achievements of those who work behind the scenes on leading Christian websites.
Hosted by internationally renowned author and speaker, Jeff Lucas and Premier radio presenter, Maria Toth, the awards were attended by one hundred distinguished guests, including the Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres who opened the award with a blessing.
"The role of each new Bishop of London is to have his own diary and take up the diary of the old Bishop." the Rt Rev Richard Chartres told the audience "With that in mind I hope whoever holds the title of Bishop of London in 2107, will be attending the Christian Web and Blog Awards."
He went on to share with the crowd that he had set up his very own blog that day, and planned to post regularly.
Excitement grew when Jeff and Maria took to the stage to announce the winners of the first ever Christian Web and Blog Awards. Among those in the running for various awards were Soul Survivor, Woship Central (Tim Hughes and Al Gordon), Stop the Traffik, Tearfund, Phatfish and Rejesus.
The Best Creative Christian Blog or Website, sponsored by EPLS design was the first category to be announced. The finalists included Operation-GreatBritain.com - a blog about a seafaring evangelist, GoFish.org.uk, the well known and popular Christian Blog by Alex Howell and the comic musings of the Christian cartoonist, Dave Walker at CartoonChurch.com.
First place for the Best Creative Christian Blog or Website went to Dave Walker, so commented on his blog "Thanks to everyone who has been involved. I received a splendid glass trophy and a present, which is a wireless rabbit. I will look forward to playing with that later."
Most Inspiring Leadership Blog, sponsored by the Evangelical Alliance was the second award, and went to Colin Adams for his blog on leadership, UnashamedWorkman.wordpress.org. Second place went to Gavin White and his site GavinWhite.org.uk, who travelled from Manchester to attend the awards ceremony and collect his award.
Dr. Krish Kandiah swept up first place for Best Christian Newcomer blog with his personal site, krishk.wordpress.com. Matt Wilson took runner up with faithscape21.blogspot.com. Sponsored by Christian Connection, Best Christian Newcomer was one of the most popular categories for entrants.
Best Young Christian Blog (under 25) went to Emily Woods for her Christian reflections unfurlingflower.blogspot.com. The 21 year old will benefit from spending a month as Guest Editor at sponsor's Streetbrand Magazine. Tolulope Oyegbami took runner up with her honest and inspiring site journeydowntheaisle.blogspot.com, that chronicles her days as a single Christian woman, right up to her wedding day.
The audience waited in anticipation for the Best Church Website award, with a grand prize of £1000. Five shortlisted churches waited in the wings to find out who would take the first place.
The winning church was King's Church, Manchester with their website, MakingJesusFamous.org.uk. Packed full of resources, including downloadable video and podcasts, King's Church, Manchester had all the judges impressed.
Peter Kerridge, Chief Executive of Premier then took to the stage to make a speech. "In the UK, we spend more than 34 hours a month online and on any given day more than 21 million people are using the internet. Christians have a strong online presence and because of that, it is important to recognise and commend the outstanding work of Christians on the net."
"The Christian Web and Blog Awards was created to pay tribute to those people and celebrate the connection between the Christian faith and new media. From Churches and leaders to musicians and dedicated Christians wanting to share the message with the rest of the world, we are all part of this new initiative." He told the audience.
The Christian Copywriting Licensing International sponsored the The Most Original Worship Blog and announced the winners as Worship Central (Tim Hughes and Al Gordon). Runners up were Phatfish for their band website, Phatfish.net.
The award for Best Provision for Youth Website was presented by Premier.tv's Kristie Winsen. First place went to Soul Survivor with runner up going to Tearfund.
Best Christian News and Reviews Site went to the fantastic resource that is ChristianToday.com. Christian Solidarity Worldwide, an organisation that relies heavily on Christian journalists to share the stories of persecuted Christian across the globe, presented the Award.
Runner up went to Russ Bravo for the ever-popular Inspire Magazine. "We were delighted to be shortlisted, let alone land the runners up slot," said Russ. "The awards are a welcome encouragement for UK Christians seeking to have an impact online, and hopefully will help us all develop and sharpen our internet ministry. These days, it's surely the world's fastest growing mission field."
Mark Russell, Church Army's CEO presented the Best Christian Social Action Website to winners StopTheTraffik.org and Runners Up MindandSoul.info. The judges were particularly impressed with StopTheTraffik's online chocolate campaign and their global projects.
Most Successful Evangelistic Blog was sponsored by Kingdom Homes who are based in Spain. Anna Drew, one of the official judges presented the awards to Rejesus.co.uk in first place and Bethinking.org and Lifedevelopment.info in joint second place on their behalf.
The final award of the evening was the People's Choice Award. Opened to the public vote and highly popular, the People's Choice Award was sponsored by our hosts the Internet Church. Presented by the Venerable Peter Delany, Archdeacon of London, the award was won by the Christian mental well-being website, MindandSoul.info.
All that was left was to thank the judges, Jonathan Bartley, Director of Ekklesia, Kristie Winsen, Head of Premier.tv, Dr Jonathan Oleyade, Pastor of Glory House, Anna Drew of the Methodist Church and Jonathan Buckeridge, Editor of Christianity Magazine.