New Jerusalem Cultural Content Awards 2020

The New Jerusalem Cultural Content Awards Ceremony is a consolidated awards ceremony comprising the following categories: Melchizedek Literary Contest, Elohim Video Festival, Bible Seminar Presentation Content Contest, and Preaching Content Idea Contest. With the COVID-19 striking across the world in 2020, the awards ceremony was omitted; instead, the award certificates and gifts were delivered to the winners through their churches.

Each contest was held between March and September. As non-face-to-face activities such as taking classes online and working from home became more frequent recently, there was a rising demand for online platforms and content. So the members all over the world showed great interest in producing gospel content. All the participants created content, following the COVID-19 prevention guidelines. As for teams, they collaborated virtually by sharing their opinions online.

This year marks the 21st Anniversary of the Melchizedek Literary Contest. Over 1,000 entries were submitted in Korean, English, Spanish, Hindi, and some other languages. Among them, 22 entries were selected as winners of the awards: essays expressing Mother’s sublime love calmly, short stories portraying the yearning for Father with warm sensibility, musical scripts depicting through lyrics the importance of consideration and understanding among brothers and sisters, etc.

The 6th Elohim Video Festival received entries in different length categories: full-length, medium, short, and ultra-short. Members from various countries such as the United States, Mongolia, and Mexico participated in the festival. Sixteen teams from adult age groups and three teams from student age groups received awards. The 6th Bible Seminar Presentation Content Contest received entries dealing with Biblical themes and some other themes like etiquette and introduction to the church. The entries, which conveyed the themes concisely and clearly through objective data and visual media, were selected as final winners. Members from some different countries, including Australia, Canada, Peru, Philippines, and the Rep. of South Africa, submitted their entries, and eight individuals and eight teams received awards with joy.

In 2020, the Preaching Content Idea Contest was also held to develop brilliant and diverse preaching content and to collect great ideas. This contest was conducted from March 1 to May 31. Over 1,900 members from 33 countries submitted their entries in multiple categories, including new preaching content, refreshing seminars, and presentations in three languages—Korean, English, and Spanish. All the entries were reviewed according to the following standards—design, creativity, and facticity, and sixteen members received awards.

Sister Ji Han-gyeol, who won the second place in the essay category, said, “These days, people communicate with someone far away, via the Internet as well as through books. In times like this, when it is hard to meet people face to face, I want to give comfort to many people by writing heartwarming stories from everyday life.”

The Church of God communicates with the members all over the world through online channels, including its official website (watv.org), apps, and YouTube, and preaches the love of God and the New Covenant—the truth of salvation, to 7.8 billion people. The diverse content, which the members all around the world have created with faith, sincerity, and passion, will be used for various media channels and outlets such as the Church of God official website, monthly magazines, YouTube, and online Bible seminars.

​Interviews with Awardees
of the New Jerusalem Cultural Content Awards 2020

I truly give thanks to God for allowing me to receive such a great award. It was a huge challenge for me to write musical scripts. Since it was not a common field, I had to frequently get help from books and videos. Furthermore, it wasn’t just a few things that I had to take care of. I had to take care of not only lyrics, but also dialogues, stage settings, and so on. Even so, I was able to complete the musical scripts because I had a goal to share realizations I got from my daily life with my brothers and sisters.
I will continue to diligently write scripts with a goal to participate in the gospel by delivering the news of salvation and hope to the world through writings. Melchizedek Literary Contest Gold Award in Musical Scripts /
Baek Seung-hye from Gi-heung Church in Yongin, Korea

Due to the COVID-19, the start of school was postponed. Even after the start of school, I went to school only every other week, so I had much time to myself at home. Whenever I had time, I wrote stories. However, when I actually tried to express the thoughts in my head, it wasn’t easy, but at the same time I was fascinated by the power of writing as much as it was difficult. It felt wonderful that I could deliver information to the readers in more depth than talking if I just think it through and polish my writing. I want to keep writing truthful stories. Melchizedek Literary Contest Gold Award in Children’s Stories /
Lee Seung-yeon from Gumi Church in Korea

Due to the COVID-19, it became troublesome to meet with people. So one day, I introduced the church and the truth to my acquaintances through online content, and they responded very well to them. I can truly feel how important it is to develop preaching content in line with the trend of this age. I will keep my spirits up and do my best to preach the truth of life this New Year as well. Then, I know I will be able to make good preaching content based on real preaching experiences. Preaching Content Idea Contest Gold Award /
Kim Ui-jeong from Dongbaek Church in Yongin, Korea

In Mongolia well-known for stock farming, we can often observe the parental love of the livestock who try to protect their young. I wanted to express our Heavenly Parents’ love by recording the scene in a video. After five years of planning for the video, I have finally completed it.
I will continue to make videos with prudence and indefatigable spirit. I want to make videos that can move our Zion family members in the world through God’s love embedded in Mongolian history and Mongolians’ lives, and easily inform unbelievers of the existence of God. Elohim Video Festival Gold Award in Full-Length Films /
O. Bayasakh from Zaisan Church in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

I have always been interested in film production, so I studied a few classes many years ago. However, when I really began to work on making videos, there were difficulties such as computer failure and software glitches. So I prayed more eagerly than ever and became more enthusiastic about preaching the truth to the world through media. I also came to have a goal, which is to make videos based on sermons since the truth is rapidly being spread around the whole world in this age. I will continue to pray and make efforts until I accomplish the goal. Elohim Video Festival Bronze Award in Short-Length Films /
Bisa Delgado from New Windsor Church in NY, U.S.