"This is the highest and most prestigious award we give," said Episcopal Communicators president Laurie Wozniak during presentations of the Janette Pierce Award at the opening dinner of the group's April 25-28 annual meeting. It was the first time two individuals were honored with the award during the same year.

"This is a great honor," said Hames, who added that he'd spent the past 17 years as Episcopal Life editor, "just dealing with the things that came our way."

"I've gained more from my association with professionals who are members of Episcopal Communicators than I feel I've given," said Hames, 67, who retires in June.

"The dedication of the people in the organization has always impressed me. I've respected their work, fortitude and integrity. You can't work for 17 years and be members of a professional organization of communicators without really cherishing the relationships offered."

He joked that he was drawn into church reporting because of membership in the Anglican Church of Canada and his university's Canterbury Club.

"They say there's such a thing as free will, but I kept ending up with religion beats," he said. "Because of my background as a member of the Anglican Church, I could speak church and they would speak to me." Although he reported on city, police and education beats for the Windsor Star in Ontario, Canada, he said he ended up with the religion beat.

"Then I moved to London, Ontario, and worked for the Free Press and they sent me to the Chatham bureau, where they put me on the religion beat."

Prior to applying for the position as editor "for the new publication for the Episcopal Church" in 1989, he also served as press and information officer for the Anglican church of Canada and as editor of the Anglican Journal in Toronto from 1975-1989 and worked briefly for the Ontario Legislature.

Although "blessed" with a great staff he decided that, at 67 and with a four-hour daily commute "it was time to retire." Still, after serving three presiding bishops, Edmond Browning, Frank Griswold, and now Katharine Jefferts Schori, leaving is bittersweet, he said.

"It's an exciting, challenging time in the Episcopal Church. I feel very pulled about leaving now, with Katharine Jefferts Schori as presiding bishop. The Episcopal Church is on the cusp of something important."

Ball, also a Janette Pierce Award recipient, "retired" after 26 years as editor of the Diocese of Louisiana's newspaper, became a case manager and, for a brief period of time, was doing both jobs.

"I became a case manager in November 2006 and put out the last issue of the paper at the same time," said Ball. Just prior to receiving the award, she delivered a moving presentation and invitation to the gathering to come and see in person the continuing efforts to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

"I'm overwhelmed by the award and to be included with the likes of Janette Pierce and Jerry Hames, who are overwhelmingly tremendous journalists," Ball said after the ceremony. "I learned all the journalism I know from folks like them and then went and got a journalism degree in 1996.

She's a "diehard supporter of the Episcopal Communicators. They are such good mentors and always supportive. Many of them, like me, served as lone rangers in our jobs for the most part. Usually we do it all, in one-person offices. It's lonely work and often others don't understand. Then, one time a year we get together with this group and everyone understands. You get support, make friends. It's a tremendously supportive group."

Established in 1988, the award was first presented a year later and is bestowed occasionally, at the discretion of the board, Wozniak said. It commemorates the work and ministry of Janette Gayley Skerrett Pierce, "a person who strove for excellence in communications and was a dedicated professional who epitomized what Episcopal Communicators was all about," Wozniak said.

Pierce was managing editor of The Episcopalian when she died of cancer in 1988. She was a past president of Episcopal Communicators who had frequently addressed the House of Bishops and the Executive Council about church communication. Respected by bishops and church leaders as well as fellow communicators, she was universally beloved by the organizations' membership.

Previous recipients of the Janette Pierce Award are: Barbara Braver (2005), Sarah Moore (2003), Harry Crandall (1998), Dan Crossland (1997), Ruth Nicastro (1993); William & Helen Ferguson (1992), Charles Long (1990), Salome Breck (1989).

About 120 people are attending the “Journeys of Discovery” Episcopal Communicators annual conference, which includes participation in the 400th anniversary observances of the beginnings of European settlement and the Anglican Church in Virginia.

Episcopal Communicators includes nearly 200 people with communication responsibilities in the Episcopal Church at congregational, diocesan, regional and national levels in both print and electronic media. It is a self-supporting organization which seeks to strengthen the community of the church, to help develop communications expertise, advocate for the ministry of communication, and provide a forum for discussion of communications issues, as well as to provide mutual support and fellowship.