We win top award for “amazing quality”
Audiomission producer Trevor Smith and CMS Web Editor Jeremy Woodham collect the award(Photo: (c)Jerusalem Productions)In a shock announcement at a select central London ceremony last Thursday, prizegivers Jerusalem Productions, part of the Jerusalem Trust, rebuffed the big-budget broadcaster in favour of a CMS report on the drug rehabilitation work of the Izhod network in Russia.
The Jerusalem Mobile award, which honours “Christian communication involving mobiles, text, audio or video” was presented to CMS for its Audiomission podcast, a half-hour monthly audio programme available as a download from the Society’s website.
The winning show was presented by Jeremy Woodham and produced by Trevor Smith, and was first broadcast by CMS last year.
Guests at the Jerusalem awards ceremony were surprised on hearing the announcement of the winner, as the video podcast (or ‘vodcast’) of the BBC Heaven & Earth show had also been shortlisted for the award. Fronted by the popular presenter Gloria Hunniford and produced by a host of BBC experts, it was widely tipped to win.
Observers believed that it would be impossible for the likes of CMS and The Damaris educational charity, which was also shortlisted, to compete with the nation’s largest broadcaster.
Yet in their adjudication, the judges wrote, “What clinched it for us was that one of the country’s oldest societies – which used to send Bibles and missionaries and uplifting literature to the farthest corners of the British empire – has now reinvented itself as a podcaster – podcasts with an amazing quality and emotional content.”
Woodham said that he was “absolutely delighted” to receive the award on behalf of CMS, adding that the judges’ reasons were particularly important because “it shows we’re not just jumping on the latest bandwagon, but making podcasting an integral part of our mission and doing it well.”
“The real point is that more people might be encouraged to listen, be inspired by the work of Izhod in getting people off drugs in Russia, and keep coming back to listen, to reflect and to pray - and we hope get more involved in mission themselves.”
You can
listen to the winning podcast here. Don’t forget to check out the ground-breaking CMS Audiomission podcast every month at
www.cms-uk.org/audiomission.