Communications Award
Katie Wang and Bee Moorhead with RCC Treasurer Rev. Brian Fesler and other DeRose-Hinkhouse 2025 Best in Class winners. (Photo Courtesy of Texas Impact)
Press Release | April 29, 2025
Texas Impact, the oldest and largest interfaith advocacy group in the state, was awarded the prestigious DeRose-Hinkhouse Best in Class Award by the Religion Communicators Council of North America for the YouTube series Faith in Democracy. The series was awarded Best in Category for Documentary/ Educational Series, and Best in Class for Video Shorts and Features.
Faith in Democracy is a 6-part series of short, educational videos about the Texas legislative process, and why and how people of faith can engage the process. The series was created and produced by Texas Impact Executive Director Bee Moorhead and Texas Impact Communications Coordinator David Vassallo, with the generous financial support of Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas.
“These awards are a unique moment of recognition for an area of communications that is highly specialized and demanding, but often goes unacknowledged. It’s such an honor to be recognized, and a joy to celebrate the achievements of our colleagues,” said Moorhead.
Of Faith in Democracy, one judge commented, “I understand this was produced by Texans for Texans and is an amazing resource for residents of that state. However, this is such a well-done series that it could be promoted and used in other areas as well.”
Established in 1967 to honor excellence in religious communications and public relations, the DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards are given annually to active members of the Religion Communicators Council (RCC). The awards are named to honor the late Victor DeRose and the late Paul M. Hinkhouse, leading lithographers in New York City, and longtime friends of the RCC.
In addition to the Best in Class award for the Faith in Democracy video series, Texas Impact received several other awards, including:
Illustration: Article or Story – Series Category Winner: “Faith in Democracy” Publication Series (Katie Floyd Wang)
Campaigns Public Affairs Category Winner: “Vidas Robadas / Stolen Lives” Campaign (Bobby Watson)
Video: Documentary/Educational – Series Award of Excellence: “Let’s Talk About the Texas Abortion Ban” YouTube Series (Bee Moorhead and Eric Graham)
Moorhead and Publication Designer Katie Wang accepted the awards in a ceremony at the Conference Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City on the first day of the annual RCC convention.
Among the other awardees were several close colleagues of Texas Impact, including the Baptist Joint Committee on Religious Liberty; the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship; United Women in Faith; Women of the ELCA; and the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Prior to this year, Texas Impact had won two DeRose-Hinkhouse Best in Class awards, for the publication “Mental Health Benefits in the Affordable Care Act” in 2014 and for the campaign “Mainstream Not Extreme: Fighting the Bathroom Bill” in 2018.
Texas Impact is a religious grassroots network whose members include individuals, congregations, and governing bodies of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faiths. Texas Impact exists to advance state public policies that are consistent with the shared values of Texas faith communities.
The non-profit works on a wide variety of public policy issues within the broadly held social concerns of mainstream religious traditions. Texas Impact uses a process of discernment on public policy issues like the processes used by many faith traditions, including Scripture, the wisdom of the faith traditions, current public policy information and data, and the experiential knowledge of people of faith to develop our positions and policy goals.