TOP 10 FINALISTS NAMED FOR FAITH COUNTS’ ‘FILM YOUR FAITH’ VIDEO CONTEST
July 11, 2018
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Faith Counts—the leading and fastest-growing multi-faith online platform—announces the top 10 finalists in its third Film Your Faith contest, with $20,000 going to the film selected for the Grand Prize.
A total of $32,500 in prizes awaits the Grand Prize-winning, Fan Favorite and Honorable Mention films of two minutes or less showcasing the power of faith in a positive light.
“We are so pleased with this year’s entries,” said Kerry Troup, Faith Counts’ communications director. “The quality of the short films is outstanding, and more importantly, the positive messages about faith are conveyed in very different, creative ways. No doubt our judges, an esteemed panel of faith leaders and film industry experts, will have a hard time choosing just one winner.”
Each Top Ten contestant now has three ways of winning:
FAN FAVORITE / $10,000 Prize: The Top 10 video with the most votes will win a $10,000 prize, so friends and family are encouraged to visit http://faithcounts.com/video-contest-voting-page/ and vote for their favorite. The Fan Favorite winner will be announced on Aug. 10, 2018.
HONORABLE MENTION / $2,500 Prize: Judges are reviewing the films now and the winner of the Honorable Mention and Grand Prize will be announced on Sept. 14, 2018.
GRAND PRIZE / $20,000: The Grand Prize winner will be announced on Sept. 14, 2018 at the Religion Newswriters Association conference in Columbus, Ohio.
From hundreds of submitted films, this year’s Top 10 Finalists include (click title to see the film):
- Kyle Churchwell, Lucedale, Mississippi, Faith Is Knowing
- Kali Bailey, Nashville, Tennessee, Many Voices, One Message
- Dwayne Parker, Bradenton, Florida, Faith Can Change Youth
- Andrew Holmes, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Never Forsake Me
- Eric Dycus, Indianapolis, Indiana, 11:1
- Cooper Anderson, Bend, Oregon, Shameless
- Ethan Tradup, Highland Village, Texas, Learning to Walk
- Ryan H. Riffle, Tucson, Arizona, Testimony of Faith
- Mike Steinkamp, Hampstead, North Carolina, Trust
- Landon Mauricio, Ewa Beach, Hawaii, The World Needs to Know
This year’s Film Your Faith Panel of Judges includes:
- Rich Peluso, EVP of AFFIRM Films
- Archbishop Joseph E. Kurtz, Archbishop of Louisville and past president, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
- Sister Sharon Eubank, first counselor of the General Presidency of the Relief Society, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
- Rabbi Joshua Bolton, University of Pennsylvania Hillel chapter
- Steve Taylor, film producer (BLUE LIKE JAZZ)
- Kam Williams, Rotten Tomatoes critic
- Matt Baer, film producer (UNBROKEN)
- Simon Rivera, 2017 Film Your Faith grand-prize winner
- Bob Waliszewski, director of Plugged In
- Baldev Singh, Executive Director, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund
The Faith Counts Story
In 2014, several faith leaders came together to address a trend of declining church attendance and declining religiosity. They saw how an increasingly secular culture left too many people in a spiritual void that excluded them from meaningful, deep connections to the people and world around them.
Online, they saw how young people were willing to share quite literally every personal, intimate detail of their lives—except the detail of their faith. There was and is a growing sense that faith should somehow be kept private. Many are reluctant or even embarrassed to share how their faith makes them who they are.
While each of their respective denominations were doing their own outreach to combat these issues, the faith leaders knew they would be more effective working together. And so, Faith Counts was launched in October 2014 as an attempt to positively influence the culture and to gently remind people that faith is a good thing.
FaithCounts.com encourages people of all faiths to share their personal faith stories and thoughts by posting to the website, sharing on social media with #FaithCounts or creating a video for the site.
Faith Counts has nearly 600,000 followers and has become the leading, fastest-growing multi-faith online platform with an engagement rate three times the industry standard.
Partner organizations supporting FaithCounts.com include 1st Amendment Partnership, Episcopal Migration Ministries, Franciscan University of Steubenville, Hillel International, Hindu American Foundation, Orthodox Union, Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, The Salvation Army and United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.
For interviews, contact: Michael Conrad, Michael@Lovell-Fairchild.com, 214-616-0320
About Faith Counts FaithCounts.com
Faith Counts, LLC is a nonprofit, non-denominational organization comprised of faith communities representing nearly 100 million Americans. We’ve come together to share a simple message that “faith counts.