Tag: Good News competition

Fife church hopes for ‘Good News’ as voting opens for £6,000 prize

St Luke the Evangelist Church in St Andrews flies the flag for Scotland

  • Voting is now open to select the national winner in Ecclesiastical’s Good News church competition
  • Five regional winners received £1,500 each after submitting their Good News stories
  • A final overall winner will be selected following a public vote with the winner receiving £6,000 for their church

Voting has opened to decide the national winner of Ecclesiastical Insurance’s ‘Good News’ competition and give one church £6,000.

Good News launched last year to shine a light on the vital work Anglican Churches do by sharing their good news stories and showcasing all the ways that people in their local area have pulled together to make a difference.

Almost 200 entries were submitted from across the UK, covering stories about home delivery services for people self-isolating, community cafés and virtual events.

Five regional winners were chosen in November, receiving £1,500 towards their work. They now stand a chance of winning the grand prize of £6,000 – bringing their total winnings to £7,500.

Picture by Clint Randall www.pixelprphotography.co.uk

Scotland’s Regional Winner was St Luke the Evangelist, St Andrews, Dunkeld & Dunblane Diocese

The public now has the chance to vote for their favourite before a panel of Ecclesiastical Insurance and church representatives select an overall winner.

Helen Richards, church operations director at Ecclesiastical, said: “Despite the challenges that the pandemic has brought with it, churches have remained a beacon of hope to the communities they are based in.

“The response to the competition was fantastic and we received lots of incredible entries showing how churches pulled together with their local communities during what has been an incredibly difficult time for so many of us.

“The five regional winners really stood out to the judges and we’re now urging the public to show their support for their local church to be crowned as national winner.”

Picture by Clint Randall www.pixelprphotography.co.uk

Voting for the national winner opened on Wednesday 5 January and closes on Monday 28 February.

To vote for your favourite church, simply go to:

www.ecclesiastical.com/churchcomp and cast your vote.

Scottish winners of Good News competition announced

A Fife church that provided school children with tablets to help with online learning has received £1,500 prize money in a national competition.

The Good News church competition was launched by specialist insurer Ecclesiastical to shine a light on churches’ bright ideas and success stories, community heroes and ingenuity in the face of adversity.

St Luke the Evangelist Church in Auchmuty, Glenrothes was chosen as the regional winner for Scotland – earning themselves £1,500 to support the church’s work in the community.

The church, led by former teacher Father Gerry Dillon, provided computers and tablets to local pupils to take part in online learning during the UK-wide lockdown.

Father Gerry Dillon, Priest of St Luke the Evangelist, Glenrothes and St Finnian’s, Lochgelly, said: “We are delighted to win and very grateful to Ecclesiastical for the award which we’ll be putting towards our AV equipment.

“The AV system will widen access to our community space(s), and to the community groups and services working with people and within our community. It will also make it possible for us to partner with global projects and initiatives who can broaden individual and community horizons.

“This scheme not only helped us partner with the local school to support the learning of children through digital devices, but also to develop parents’ literacy, numeracy and digital skills – which has been an unexpected benefit of this initiative.

“Going forward St Luke’s will continue to be an additional space in the community that will be of use for the ongoing well-being of the whole community, as well as developing nurturing opportunities, especially with local schools and youth groups.”

St Luke’s will now join four other churches in the national final where they can win a further £6,000 as overall winner – bringing the total winnings to £7,500.

Helen Richards, church director at Ecclesiastical, said: “Congratulations to St Luke the Evangelist Church, our regional winner for Scotland. Their efforts to support local pupils who were without access to computers or devices needed for online learning during the pandemic really impressed our judging panel.

“Despite the challenges that the pandemic has brought with it, churches have remained a beacon of hope to the communities they are based in.

“That’s why this year’s theme for our church competition is ‘Good News’! We wanted to help shine a light on those unsung heroes in our communities and the new initiatives that churches have come up with to help those most in need – spreading the ‘Good News’ far and wide.”

Members of the public will be able to vote for their favourite shortlisted church to help decide the overall national winner, who will receive a further £6,000.

Voting will open on Wednesday 3 January and closes on Tuesday 22 February and can be made at www.ecclesiastical.com/churchcomp.

Time running out for Scottish churches to share ‘Good News’

Church competition

Churches in Scotland are being encouraged to submit their entries to Ecclesiastical Insurance’s ‘Good News’ competition before the deadline in September.

The specialist insurer is looking for churches to share their good news stories from the past 18 months, showcasing how they’ve supported their local communities during a challenging time. The winning church will scoop a total prize of £7,500.

St Luke the Evangelist Church in Glenrothes is one of the churches who have entered this year’s competition.

The Fife church shared their story of how they wanted to strengthen their links with the local community, so worked with the local school to provide 50 tablets for pupils to help them learn from home during the pandemic.

At the same time the church underwent a £450,000 refurbishment to provide local groups with a space to deliver their own activities, including Men’s Shed, YMCA and Scottish Association for Mental Healt (SAMH).

Entries should be submitted through Ecclesiastical’s website and written in the style of a news article with an attention-grabbing headline and no more than 250 words in length and with photographs or videos to go along with the article to help show the impact of their initiative.

Each entry is automatically entered into the regional competition where a panel of judges will select five regional winners who will each receive a £1,500 prize for their church.

The grand final of the competition will see one of the regional winners be crowned the national winner and receive an additional £6,000 – bringing their total winnings to £7,500.

Michael Angell from Ecclesiastical Insurance, said: “Despite the challenges that the pandemic has brought with it, churches have remained a beacon of hope to the communities they are based in.

“They have shown resilience and a willingness to adapt, diversifying to offer local residents more than ever before – from food banks, to home deliveries and vaccination centres.

“That’s why this year’s theme for our church competition is ‘Good News’! We want to help shine a light on those unsung heroes in our communities and the new initiatives that churches have come up with to help those most in need – spreading the ‘Good News’ far and wide.”

Entries can be submitted through the online form at Ecclesiastical’s website: 

www.ecclesiastical.com/churchcomp.

The closing date for entries is at 5pm on Friday 17 September.