TMP’s Online Magazine, ReligionUnplugged.com, Honored With Numerous Awards
The RUP Staff and Contributors - (left to right) Micah Danney, Clemente Lisi, Paul Glader (executive editor), Meagan Clark (managing editor), Peter Freeby and Dr. Robert Carle
The Media Project’s online news magazine, ReligionUnplugged.com, has received numerous awards from several different journalism organizations for its reporting on religion news around the world since its launch in 2019.
The non-profit news outlet publishes 10-15 articles of news, features, opinion and cultural criticism each week. It’s a platform that publishes young and upcoming religion writers as well as established, veteran religion writers. Journalists from all over the world contribute ideas and reporting to the site.
“Our primary aim is to report unique stories that explain religion and religious people,” said Paul Glader, who was executive director of The Media Project and executive editor of ReligionUnplugged.com from 2015 to 2023. “Receiving awards, though not our primary goal, is certainly a pleasant validation for the quality of work our journalists are doing.”
Associated Church Press
Religion Unplugged was honored by The Associated Church Press Awards in 2023 with a first prize award of excellence in long format news story for Chris Moody’s story “Mark Driscoll’s Safe Space: How The Embattled Pastor Built A New Church.” It received an Award of Merit for Vishal Arora’s video on “The Men Behind Violence in the Indian State of Manipur.” It received an honorable mention for national reporting for Clemente Lisi’s reporting on “Christian Leaders Increase Pressure On Lawmakers In Anti-Death Penalty Fight.” It won first prize Award of Excellence in international reporting for Gil Zohar’s story “Israel Struggling To Identify Many Of The 1,400 Hamas Victims.” In 2022, ReligionUnplugged received an Award of Excellence (1st prize) in international reporting for Bobby Ross Jr.’s story “In Alaska, A Russian-Speaking Church Becomes A Hub For Ukrainians.” Jovan Tripkovic and Meagan Clark Saliashvili won an Award of Excellence (1st prize) for the series “Orthodox Alaska — A Series about the growth of Orthodox Christianity in America’s northernmost state.” In 2021, Religion Unplugged won First Place News Story: George Floyd's Ministry Friends Say He Was Their 'OG,' A 'Man Of Peace' (by Liza Vandenboom); First Place In-depth: COVID-19 Is Fueling A New Jesus Movement (by Meagan Clark and Haeven Gibbons); Third Place Theme Issue: God And Guns: Why American Churchgoers Are Packing Heat (by Paul Glader); Second Place Column: Inside The $100 Million Russian Church Meant To Honor Putin, Stalin And War (by Alexei Lidov); and Second Place Best In Class Video Production: Church Van Plays Gospel Music To Calm Police And Protesters In Brooklyn (by Micah Danney).
Religion News Association:
In 2024, Bobby Ross Jr. received first place in the Supple Award for Excellence in Religion Feature Writing for stories he wrote at ReligionUnplugged and other outlets. In 2022, Kimberly Winston won second place for online-only religion reporting for stories at ReligionUnplugged and other outlets. Julia Duin received second place for religion story of the year and first place in online-only religion reporting for work that originated at ReligionUnplugged. In 2021, Paul Glader was awarded third place for Excellence in Religion Reporting for his stories God And Guns: Why American Churchgoers Are Packing Heat; Exclusive: Author Eric Metaxas Admits Punching D.C. Protester And Offers Context and A Centrist Visits A Gun Store And Finds It Hard To Shoot For The Middle. Paul Glader, Michael Ray Smith and Micah Danney were also awarded third place in Religion Story of the Year for their reporting on God And Guns: Why American Churchgoers Are Packing Heat. RUP also received numerous Religion News Association's 71st Annual Awards in 2020 including the Award for Excellence in Religion Reporting — Online-only News Outlets, with Paul Glader receiving first prize for his series of reporting on the LDS (Mormon) Church scandal. In the contest for Story of the Year, Paul Glader won third place for his report, Whistleblower Alleges $100 Billion Secret Stockpile By Mormon Church. The first place prize for the Chandler Award for Excellence in Student Religion Reporting went to Religion Unplugged intern, Liza Vandenboom of The King's College for her reporting on a Buddhist Instagram influencer and the Jehovah’s Witnesses ministry outreach for the deaf.
Editor & Publisher EPPY Awards:
In 2024, RUP won first place for Best Podcast, Best Entertainment/Cultural News site and Best Website Navigation Design. The site won second place for Best Overall Website Design, Best Homepage Design, Best News or Event Feature for TMP member Cyril Zelda’s piece on “A force for good in Africa” and Best Use of Social Media / Crowd Sourcing for the story “Mark Driscoll's Safe Space” by Chris Moody, Best Photojournalism on a website and Best Community Service Project / Reporting for the story “Connecting with God and others: How chaplains support Denver’s unhoused” by Magdalena and Noel Rojo and Best Innovation Project on a Website for the story “High Plains Grifter” by Paul Glader and Mary Cuddehe. It won third place for best online-only news outlet and best news or event feature, best community service project / reporting and best business reporting. In 2023, RUP won first place for best photojournalism on a website, best website navigation design and best use of crowdsourcing and social media for the series “Faith Signs of Faith.” RUP was a runner up for best overall website design and best homepage design, best investigative / enterprise video, best use of data / infographics and best community service reporting. In 2022, RUP won first place for Best Podcast and Best Homepage Design. RUP’s Paul Glader won first place for Best Use of Social Media / Crowd Sourcing for this story on “Pastors Question Whether To Unplug From Online Services When The Pandemic Ends.” RUP and its partner, Newsreel Asia, received first place for Best Community Service reporting with the story “The Dinner Table: Journalism over food in India that fosters civility & conversation.” RUP won first place for best website navigation design for “Orthodox Alaska: The evolution of traditional faith in America's northernmost state.” RUP was also a runner up for Best Entertainment / Cultural News Website, Best Photojournalism, Best Investigative/Enterprise Video, and Best Collaborative Investigative / Enterprise Reporting. In 2021, RUP received several EPPY Awards including: Best Entertainment/Cultural News Website; Best Collaborative Investigative/Enterprise Reporting (with Newsreel Asia, Harshita Rathore and Vishal Arora) for “Talking Religion at the Dinner Table”; Best News or Event Feature (Julia Duin, Hamil Harris, Kimberly Winston) for The Religious Roots of an Attempted Insurrection. RUP was also a finalist for Best Use of Data/Infographics (Ryan Burge) for “Plugging in the Numbers: Data Journalism on Religion and Politics”; Best Use of Social Media/Crowdsourcing (Meagan Clark) for “King James Resurrects the Gold Bless the USA Bible”; Best News or Event Feature Video (with Newsreel Asia, Harshita Rathore and Vishal Arora) for “Talking Religion at the Dinner Table” and Best Overall Website Design for ReligionUnplugged.com. In 2020, RUP received six finalist awards: for best video storytelling, best photojournalism and best business reporting in the “Whistleblower Alleges $100 Billion Secret Stockpile By Mormon Church” by Paul Glader and a series by Glader and Micah Danney called God & Guns: Why American Churchgoers are Packing Heat; for best news for a website under 1 million monthly visits; and best news story for Liza Vandenboom’s reporting on George Floyd’s ministry involvement. The team received a first place EPPY Award for a mini-documentary Danney and Glader produced for the God & Guns story. In 2019, Religion Unplugged and ESPN were the two first place EPPY Award winners for best culture and entertainment news in the websites under and over 1 million views a month categories.
Evangelical Press Association:
In 2022, Religion Unplugged received the EPA Award of Excellence for Newspaper-Online News (digital); First Place Reporting for Charismatics Are At War With Each Other Over Failed Prophecies Of Trump Victory by Julia Duin; Third Place e-Newsletter by Bobby Ross Jr.; Fourth Place: Minari’ Finds Faith In Fertile, Arkansas Soil by Jillian Cheney. In the EPA annual journalism awards in 2021, ReligionUnplugged managing editor Meagan Clark and executive editor Paul Glader won first place in reporting for their story, “Liberty University Alums Demand Change After Falwell’s Exit.” Clark and Jillian Cheney, a Poynter Koch fellow at RUP, received a first place for their article series on “Evangelicals in the Environmental Movement.” Cheney received a second place for critical review for her piece, “Does ‘Holy’ Mark A New Era In Justin Bieber’s Music?” Bobby Ross’ Weekend Plug-in was honored as one of the top five newsletters. Liza Vandenboom received second place in student writer of the year for her piece, “Christian TikTok Videos Are Censored And Deleted In The US, Creators Say.” Glader’s piece with Michael Ray Smith on "God and Guns: Why American Churchgoers Are Packing Heat" won awards in three categories, including a fourth place in photography.
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