Prizing Our Environment

The Church Times is sponsoring a new set of awards to celebrate the remarkable efforts made in recent years by individuals and congregations to offset the damage being done to the Earth.

The Church Times Green Church Awards also aim to inspire others to follow suit by promoting good examples. The awards are open to churches of all denominations.

The awards are organised jointly along with Shrinking the Footprint, the Church of England’s national environmental campaign.

There are five awards, four recognising work already done, and one for exciting projects still at the planning stage.

The five awards are as follows:

• The Green Building Award
• The Green Congregation Award
• The Biodiversity Award
• The Green Champion Award
• The Green Futures Award

For the first three awards, the judges will be looking for projects that have made a significant difference in the past five years in buildings, outdoors, and in the community. The Green Champion Award will celebrate the most inspiring individual; while the Green Futures Award will support imaginative future projects.

The prize for the first four awards is £1000 each, while the Green Futures Award has a prize fund of £6000 and growing, to which the Church Times is encouraging contributions, both from entrants and others.

Full details of the awards are available at www.churchtimes.co.uk/green-church. Entries must reach the judges by midnight on 2 July. Photos and videos are encouraged.

Bishop Nicholas said, “There are some really inspiring stories to tell from this Diocese, as there are from around the country. I hope we’ll see plenty of entries from churches here.

“The care of creation is a mark of mission and one of the ways in which we declare the good news of Jesus Christ. This is evangelism. Churches take a lead in protecting our God-given environment for its own sake and because it is profoundly mission-oriented. When people see churches practising what they preach about God’s sovereignty over creation, it renews everybody’s hope in the future of our planet and the Church.”