Christian net elite gathered to hear who had won one of the eleven awards available. Among those in the running for the awards were Soul Survivor, Worship Central (Tim Hughes and Al Gordon), Stop the Traffik, Tearfund, Phatfish and Rejesus.

The Rt. Rev. Richard Chartes, Bishop of London, says future bishops will be web-connected, attend future Internet event.

The event was hosted by internationally renowned author and speaker, Jeff Lucas and Premier radio presenter, Maria Toth. The Bishop of London, the Rt Rev Richard Chartres, opened the award with a blessing and called the event a success.

"The role of each new Bishop of London is to have his own diary and take up the diary of the old Bishop," Chartres told the audience.

"With that in mind I hope whoever holds the title of Bishop of London in 2107, will be attending the Christian Web and Blog Awards." He went on to share with the crowd that he had set up his very own blog that day, and planned to post regularly.

Peter Kerridge, Chief Executive of Premier then took to the stage to make a speech. "In the UK, we spend more than 34 hours a month online and at on any given day more than 21 million people are using the Internet. Christians have a strong online presence and because of that, it is important to recognize and commend the outstanding work of Christians on the net," he told the audience.

"The Christian Web and Blog Awards was created to pay tribute to those people and celebrate the connection between the Christian faith and new media. From Churches and leaders to musicians and dedicated Christians wanting to share the message with the rest of the world, we are all part of this new initiative."

The awards are to be an annual event hosted by Premier Christian Media Group. This years judges were: Jonathan Bartley, Director of Ekklesia, Kristie Winsen, Head of Premier.tv, Dr Jonathan Oleyade, Pastor of Glory House, Anna Drew of the Methodist Church and Jonathan Buckeridge, Editor of Christianity Magazine.

Information About The Award Winners In Detail

The Best Creative Christian Blog or Website was sponsored by EPLS design. The finalists included Operation-GreatBritain.com - a blog about a seafaring evangelist by John Holme, GoFish.org.uk, the well-known and popular Christian Blog by Alex Howell and the comic musings of the Christian cartoonist, Dave Walker at CartoonChurch.com/blog.

First place for the Best Creative Christian Blog or Website went to Dave Walker, who commented on his blog "Thanks to everyone who has been involved. I received a splendid glass trophy and a present, which is a wireless rabbit. I will look forward to playing with that later."

Most Inspiring Leadership Blog, sponsored by the Evangelical Alliance was the second award, and went to Colin Adams for his blog on leadership, UnashamedWorkman.wordpress.org. Second place went to Gavin White and his site GavinWhite.org.uk, who travelled from Manchester to attend the awards ceremony and collect his prize.

Dr. Krish Kandiah swept up first place for Best Christian Newcomer Blog with his personal site, krishk.wordpress.com. Matt Wilson took runner up with faithscape21.blogspot.com. Sponsored by Christian Connection, Best Christian Newcomer was one of the most popular categories for entrants.

Best Young Christian Blog (under 25) went to Emily Woods for her Christian reflections unfurlingflower.blogspot.com. The 21 year old will benefit from spending a month as Guest Editor at sponsor's Streetbrand Magazine. Tolulope Oyegbami took runner up with her honest and inspiring site, journeydowntheaisle.blogspot.com, the chronicles her days as a single Christian woman, right up to her wedding day.

The audience waited in anticipation for the Best Church Website award, with a grand prize of £1000. Five shortlisted churches waited in the wings to find out who would take the first place.

The winning church was King's Church, Manchester with their website, MakingJesusFamous.org.uk. Packed full of recourses, including downloadable video and podcasts, King's Church, Manchester had all the judges impressed.

The Christian Copywriting Licensing International sponsored the The Most Original Worship Blog and announced the winners as Worship Central (Tim Hughes and Al Gordon). Runners up were Phatfish for their band website, Phatfish.net.

Best Christian News and Reviews Site went to the fantastic resource that is ChristianToday.com. Christian Solidarity Worldwide, an organisation that relies heavily on the Christian journalists to share the stories of persecuted Christian across the globe, presented the Award.

Runner up went to Russ Bravo for the ever-popular Inspire Magazine. "We were delighted to be shortlisted, let alone land the runners up slot," said Russ. "The awards are a welcome encouragement for UK Christians seeking to have an impact online, and hopefully will help us all develop and sharpen our internet ministry. These days, it's surely the world's fastest growing mission field."

Mark Russell, Church Army's CEO presented the Best Christian Social Action Website to winners StopTheTraffik.org and Runners Up MindandSoul.info. The judges were particularly impressed with StopTheTraffik's online chocolate campaign and their global projects.

The award for Best Provision for Youth Website was presented by Premier.tv's Kristie Winsen. First place went to Soul Survivor with runner up going to Tearfund.

Most Successful Evangelistic Blog was sponsored by Kingdom Homes who are based in Spain. Anna Drew, one of the official judges presented the awards to Rejesus.co.uk in first place and Bethinking.org and Lifedevelopment.info in joint second place on their behalf.

The final award of the evening was the People's Choice Award. Opened to the public vote and highly popular, the People's Choice Award was sponsored our hosts the Internet Church. Presented by the Venerable Peter Delany, Archdeacon of London, the award was won by the Christian mental well-being website, mindandsoul.info.

Information About The Award Winners In Brief

Most Original Worship Blog / Website

Runner up - Phatfish
Winner - Worship Central, Tim Hughes and Al Gordon

Most Inspiring Leadership Blog / Website

Runner up - Gavin White for GavinWhite.org.uk
Winner - Colin Adams for Unashamedworkman.wordpress.com

Most Successful Evangelistic Blog

Runner up (joint)- Bethinking.org
Runner up (joint) - Lifedevelopment.info
Winner - Rejesus.co.uk

Best Christian Newcomer Blog

Runner up - Matt Wilson for faithscape21.blogspot.com
Winner - Krish Kandiah for krishk.wordpress.com

Best Young Christian Blog (under 25)

Runner up - Tolulope Oyegbami
Winner - Emily Woods

Best Christian News and Reviews Website

Runner up - Inspire Magazine
Winner - Christian Today

Best Provision for Youth Blog or Website

Runner up - Soul Survivor
Winner - Tearfund

Best Christian Social Action Website

Runner up - Mind and Soul
Winner - Stop the Traffik

Best Creative Christian Blog or Website

Runner up - Alex Howell for GoFish.org.uk
Winner - Dave Walker for Cartoonchurch.com/blog

Best Church Website

Runner up - Christ Church London
Winner - King's Church, Manchester for MakingJesusFamous.org.uk

People's Choice Award

Winner - Mind and Soul

For further information, photos, quotes from judges, winners or hosts, please contact Grace Benson on +44 (0) 207 3161462 or grace.benson@premier.org.uk  

Grace Benson | Public Relations Manager | Premier Radio
Premier Radio is part of the Premier Media Group
Direct: +44 (0)20 7316 1462
Office: +44 (0)207 3161300
Fax: +44 (0)20 7233 6706
www.premier.org.uk/press  

** Michael Ireland is an international British freelance journalist. A former reporter with a London newspaper, Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST News Service of Lake Forest, California. Michael immigrated to the United States in 1982 and became a US citizen in September, 1995. He is married with two children. Michael has also been a frequent contributor to UCB Europe, a British Christian radio station. His weblog appears at: Michael's Wor(l)d BLOG