Named in honor of the former Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, John Hines (VTS ’33), the award celebrates the ministry of preaching and its importance in our Church by recognizing outstanding sermons that are deeply grounded in scripture and focused on the seen and unseen needs of the worshipping community, the nation and the world.
All Bishops, Priests, Deacons, and Laity of the Episcopal Church in America. Sermons preached outside the United States by clergy who are canonically resident in a diocese of the Episcopal Church USA and by laypeople who are parishioners in an Episcopal Church USA congregation will be accepted as entries for the award.
Entries should be sermons delivered to an Episcopal congregation sometime over the course of a full liturgical year — between the first Sunday of Advent and the last Sunday of Pentecost. The deadline for the 2024 process has been extended to May 10. Submissions must be in hand by then and can be sent to scbrown@vts.edu by mail. The award recipient will be announced in mid-summer
The prophetic voice must be central within the sermon. Only one sermon per preacher can be submitted. For the 2024 process, audio (not video) must be submitted. There is a preference to also receive a text documents (Word), but the audio version is required.
The John Hines Preaching Award Committee evaluates the finalists following a faculty committee review of all entries. each entry without knowledge of the identity of the entrant.
The Award winners are presented with a certificate (hopefully in their parish setting by a VTS representative) and a cash prize of $2,000. Additionally, they are invited to campus to guest preach and to spend time with students, faculty, and alumni.