2007 Richard Borden and Paul Holton Awards for Sermonic Excellence
The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations is pleased to announce the 2007 Richard Borden and Paul Holton Awards for Sermonic Excellence competition.
Download the
Announcement & Guidelines  for the 2007 Richard Borden and Paul Holton Awards for Sermonic Excellence.
Theme
Sermon entries are to describe ways in which Unitarian Universalists can apply the Association's principles to better our world, country, communities, and the lives of family, friends, and others. Special consideration will be given to sermons which demonstrate how Unitarian Universalists, individually or collectively, can take leadership roles in these efforts. The focus should be on turning hope and good intentions into practical action, with the goal of making Association principles come alive to solve problems and move our world to a better place.
Awards
Five cash awards of $8,000 will be presented. All five award winners will receive a certificate, be named in the GA Program Book, and have their sermons published on the UUA’s website.
However, due to changes in the 2007 General Assembly program schedule, the first-place sermon will not be delivered during GA in Portland. Instead, the award recipient will be asked to submit a recording of her or his sermon to be produced on CD for wider distribution and recognition.
Eligibility
The 2007 competition is open to all Unitarian Universalist theology students who have attained aspirant or candidate status before January 1, 2007. Sermons from current ministers and UUA staff are not eligible.
Deadline
The deadline for all submissions is February 15, 2007, at 11:59 pm ET. Late entries will not be considered.
Notification of Awards
Results of the 2007 contest will be announced by March 15, 2007. The five award winners will be notified by telephone, and all entrants will receive the results by email. An announcement will also be posted on the UUA's website on or around March 15.
Previous Award Winners
The results of the 2006 competition, as well as downloadable copies of the award-winning sermons from 2003 to the present, can be found below.
How to Enter
Entries should be submitted electronically as a Microsoft Word or plain text attachment to Jamie Thompson at development@uua.org.
Submission Format
All entries should be formatted in Times New Roman size 12 font, with double-spaced text and 1" margins. A single cover page should include the sermon title, author's name, ministerial status and name of seminary, as well as the author's mailing address, telephone number, and email address. As much identifying information as possible should be removed from the body of the sermon, and only the sermon title should be included at the top of the first page.
Submission Terms and Conditions
By submitting your sermon for consideration, you are (a) agreeing to grant to the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) a non-exclusive, three year, royalty-free license to publish your sermon in any and all publications and websites of the UUA and its affiliate organizations; (b) representing and warranting to the UUA that your submission is an original work of yours and, to the best of your knowledge, does not copy or otherwise infringe upon anyone else's work. The license referred to above includes the right to edit your work for space-saving considerations. Attribution will be made each time your work is published. As the copyright owner, you have the right to use the sermon as you see fit at any time.
Requirements
Eligible sermons will adhere to the theme as well as the four basic public speaking steps described below. Mark with an asterisk (*) the section of your sermon that adheres to each of the four steps (Ho Hum, Why Bring That Up?, For Instance!, and So What?).
Public Speaking—As Listeners Like It! by Richard C. Borden
The following paragraphs are a summary of the first section of Mr. Borden's book.
Professor Borden has formulated principles that work to help you give a speech or sermon that will hold your audience's attention from beginning to end.
Chapter 1 of the book lays out the fundamentals of speech organization. Speeches should have purpose and form. For your sermon you will focus on the principles used in the section, "How To Organize A Formal Platform Speech That Listeners Like." There are four basic steps to the process and they are summarized below.
Step One: Ho Hum!
In the first section of your speech—start a fire! In order for your speech to be well organized you must grab the attention of your audience in the first sentence.
Step Two: Why Bring That Up?
In the second section of your speech—build a bridge! Make sure your listener understands exactly why you are bringing up this subject and how it relates to her or him. The bridge is critical for your lead-in to the body of speech.
Step Three: For Instance!
In the third section of your speech—get down to cases! The body of your speech will begin with some purposive general assertion about your chosen subject, but once that assertion is made avoid putting the idea "in other words." Instead give concrete "for instances" to your claims.
Step Four: So What?
In the concluding section of your formal speech—ask for action! The end of your speech should have a point. It must answer your audience's question "so what." At the end of your speech ask the audience for some specific action. Join! Contribute! Vote! Write! Fax! Buy! Boycott! Investigate! Acquit! Convict!
2006 Borden Sermon Awards
(First Place):
Sharing a Journey - Lisa Sargent, Starr King School for the Ministry
(Second Place):
Getting Real About Food - Ana Porter, University of Chicago Divinity School
(Runners-Up):
Contemporary Slavery: You Can Make a Difference - Kathryn Ellis, Meadville Lombard Theological School
Resisting Reasonable Atrocity - David Schwartz, Harvard Divinity School
2005 Borden Sermon Awards
(First Place):
Music and
Mediation: Resolving Conflict in a Warring World - Meadville Lombard
ministerial candidate, Bret Lortie
The Spiritual Imperative of Choice - Rev. Krista Taves, Interim, New Orleans
Watch One Hour With Me - Rev Cynthia Frado, Westboro, MA
(Second Place):
A Not-So-Quiet Week in Lake Wobegon - Rev. Randolph
Becker, Park Forest, IL
The Borden Sermon Committee also wishes to announce the five student runners up:
Telos Whitfield - "Finding Comfort in Chaos: Carrying the Ark"
Sally Hamlin - "Amina's Prophecy: Pondering Peacemaking and the costs of War"
John A. Cullinan - The War is Home"
Eric Kaminetzky - "Eyes on the Prize"
Claudene Oliva - "What is the Cost of War?"
2004 Borden Sermon Awards
The Rev. Michelle Bentley, Director of Professional Development for the
UUA's Ministry and Professional Leadership Staff Group, has announced the
winners of the 2004 Richard Borden Sermon Award Competition.
The winning sermons and their authors are:
(First Prize):
Playing With the Italians
- Rev. Edward A. Frost, Atlanta, GA
Restoration - Rev. Marjorie
(Midge) Skwire, Rocky River, OH
It Might Have Been Otherwise: Spiritual
Gratitude - Rev. Edwin Charles Lynn, Danvers, MA
(Honorable Mention):
Reconciliation - Rev.
Stephen H. Furrer, Santa Fe, NM
In A Homeless Person's Place -
Rev. Susan M. Milnor, Columbia, PA
2004 Borden Award sermon readers
2003 Borden Sermon Awards
(First Prize):
Here Comes The Judge -
The Reverend Wayne Arnason
The Sum Of All The Parts -
The Reverend Kathleen Rolenz
Welcoming the Wild Wood-Dove -
The Reverend Amanda Aikman
(Honorable Mention):
Nothing is Black and White -
The Rev. Katie Lee Crane
Gladys and Honkamiller: Naming the Unnamable One
- The Rev. Victoria Weinstein
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