My Experience of the Premier Digital Awards and Conference 2016


Over the weekend around 500 delegates made their way to central London for the 10th annual Premier Digital Awards and Conference.

The conference happened during the day of Saturday 12th with 36 contributors and six 'streams' to choose from the conference just keeps getting bigger and better - equipping and empowering the church to share their faith in the digital space. There were some thought provoking and challenging keynote addresses: 'Finding God Online' by Lucy Peppiatt from the Westminster Theological College; 'The Dark Side of Digital' by Abbie Gilligan from the NSPCC and 'Church, What Is It Good For?' by Pete Phillips from CODEC.


I attended two sessions in the morning in the 'Creators' stream where I learnt more about blogging. It was good to know I am already doing quite a lot of it right - but there were other golden nuggets of advice and practical tips that I will definitely be putting into practise. Then the afternoon saw me in the 'Growing Community' stream where we learnt about how digital can help churches build stronger communities as well as reaching out to their wider community.

I was back again for the very posh awards dinner in the evening with my wife as I had been awarded 'Finalist' position in the 'Accessibility' category for my church's website and again in the 'Most Inspiring Leadership Blog' for my blog (that you are reading now). Unfortunately in both categories I did not win but am very pleased to be recognised by this national award for the work that I do and to know that the contribution I am making in the digital space is significant and meaningful.

One of the highlights for me was meeting Ruth Clements who writes The Mustard Seed blog who won the 'Young Blogger Of The Year Award' as she has also had cancer and has walked a very similar path to me. Check out her award winning blog here!

Thank you Premier Media for such an excellent conference and for awards that inspire Christians to go further with communicating the gospel online. It is certainly an area that will just continue to grow and you are at the forefront of this change in The Church.

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