At the United Methodist Association of Communicators (UMAC) Annual Meeting on October 26-28, 2025, the NC Conference Communications Team won six awards, including two Best in Class trophies.

Best in Class

Chris Daniel, Video Producer, and Derek Leek, Communications Director, won the Hilly Hicks Award of Excellence for Best in Class – Video Production. The winning video was “Supporting Immigrants: A Call to Action,” featuring Claudia Oviedo Tsiaousopoulos.

Daniel and Leek also won Best in Class in the Audio category for the podcast, “God’s Gift of Scripture with Belton Joyner.” The winning episode title is “Cleansing Water,” which was published on May 25, 2025.

First Place Awards

Daniel and Leek also received First Place awards for the Best in Class winners. The “Supporting Immigrants” video won first place in the Video Production: Less Than $500 category, and the podcast won First Place in the Podcast category.

Second and Third Place Awards

Daniel, Leek, and Amanda Packer received a Second Place award for the NC Conference App in the Mobile App Category.

Leek, Packer, and Laura Dallas received a Third Place award for the “Connections” email newsletter in the eNewsletter category. Sign up to receive this weekly newsletter.

Speaking about the work of the Communications Team, Leek said, “I love the fact that our work amplifies the voices of the NC Conference. Really, this isn’t a recognition of our team, it’s a recognition of the gifts and talents of those lay and clergy members in the NC Conference.”

Congratulations to the NC Conference Communications Team!

View images of the awards below and the full UMAC 2025 Awards Booklet at UMCommunicators.org.