Awards Information

On this page, you will find information about awards recognizing evangelism, special needs ministry, ecumenism, higher education support, refugee sponsorship, and more. The deadline for all awards nominations is April 1st. The Special Needs Ministry, Refugee Ministry, and Mission Ambassador Churches awards will be presented at district conferences. The Denman, Asbury, and Ecumenism awards will be presented at Annual Conference.

Harry Denman Evangelism Award

Begun in 1981 to honor United Methodist clergy and lay persons in each annual conference who exhibit unusual and outstanding efforts for the work on Christian Evangelism, the Harry Denman Evangelism Award helps draw attention to evangelism in the conference by honoring one clergy person, one lay person, and one youth who are reaching others effectively for Christ. Those eligible for the awards are effective in helping persons to experience the transforming love of God through Jesus Christ. The Denman Award is sponsored by the Foundation for Evangelism, an affiliate of the General Board of Discipleship of the UMC. Send completed nomination forms to Scot Hoeksema at sdhoeksema@aol.com or 105 Clay Street, Louisa, KY 41230. 

 Forms must be received by April 1st.

Download nomination form 

Special Needs Ministry Recognition Awards

The Advocacy Team of the Kentucky Annual Conference will be presenting "Special Needs Ministry Recognition Awards" to churches who are intentionally and actively involved in ministries with special needs persons. Some examples of these types of ministries are Sunday school classes for people with special needs, building access improvements (ramps, accessible rooms etc.), changes made to make worship accessible, and outreach ministries geared toward people with special needs.

If your church is involved in this type of ministry and you would like to be considered for an award please submit the following information:

  1. Description of the ministry: How it meets special needs, how ministry began, how many people attend etc.
  2. Contact information: Name of church and pastor, name/e-mail/ phone number of contact person.

Submit the information to Lisa May at revlisahmay@gmail.com.

Deadline for submission is April 1st.

These awards will be presented at district conferences.

Bishop's Award for Ecumenism

Who has shown a heart for ecumenism in your church? Your pastor? A lay person? You are invited to nominate them for the Bishop’s Award for Ecumenism which will be given at Annual Conference.

Please write a letter sharing why this person should be recognized for ministry in ecumenism and send to Lisa May at revlisahmay@gmail.com by April 1.

Francis Asbury Award

The Francis Asbury Award for Fostering United Methodist Ministries in Higher Education is a non-monetary award to recognize and encourage support of higher education & campus ministries within The United Methodist Church. The award will offer recognition to individuals who have made a significant contribution to fostering the church’s ministries in higher education at the local, district, or annual conference level of the church.

To nominate someone you know for this year’s award to be given at the Kentucky Annual Conference, download and submit completed form by email attachment to William Moore at the conference office (email: wmoore@kyumc.org) 7400 Floydsburg Rd., Crestwood, KY 40014.

Nominations to be received by April 1. 

Download nomination form as PDF or Word document.

Refugee Ministry Sponsorship

The Advocacy Team wants to recognize local churches that have sponsored refugee families in the past year. Please email information from your church to Lisa May at revlisahmay@gmail.com by April 1. Pictures are welcome and appreciated as well.

These awards will be presented at district conferences.

Mission Ambassador Churches

God is truly at work and we trust each of our congregations wants to be part of this remarkable church movement! Does your church qualify as a Mission Ambassador Congregation?

To be considered for this recognition, you need to give 100% of Our Mission Together commitment and participate in four of the five tracks, which are:

  1. A World Advance Special
  2. A National Advance Special
  3. A Conference Advance Special
  4. Receive at least three of the six Special Day Offerings
  5. Give to UMCOR through the One Great Hour of Sharing or other emergency requests from them.

Any Advance Special project from the Partnership in Mission Catalog will qualify for a World or National Advance Special. A list of recommended Advance Specials is available here.

The deadline to be considered as a Mission Ambassador Church is April 1.

Please email information on church participation in the above criteria to David Garvin at dgarvin@kyumc.org.

These awards will be presented at district conferences.

UMM Unit Recognition Program

This Unit Recognition Award is to recognize those UMM groups who exhibit the ideals, missions, and connectionalism of United Methodist Men. There will be four levels of awards. For more information, go to the UMM Unit Recognition Program page.