DESCRIPTION: The WomanPreach! Inc. Waymaker Award was created in deep gratitude for everyone who has fervently supported WomanPreach! Inc. from its early days with wisdom and financial resources. Beginning with The Sister Fund, WomanPreach! Inc. has been fortified by partners, grantors, donors, brilliant scholars, pastors, churches, organizations, and countless others who believe deeply in our mission. With the resources they provided, WomanPreach! Inc. has advanced prophetic and compelling preaching, justice, and womanist ways of ministry and living.

CRITERIA: This award honors a person, organization, or group that has demonstrated their care and commitment to justice, preaching, and social change by extending significant tangible resources (finances, space, access to research, or fruitful partnership connections) to further the work of people or organizations from marginalized genders or racial-ethnic backgrounds.

DESCRIPTION: The Ella P. Mitchell Pioneer in Ministry Award is named for consummate and world-renowned teacher, preacher, mentor, and church leader, Rev. Dr. Ella Pearson Mitchell. Known by many as “the dean of Black women preachers,” and “Mother Mitchell” to many, Rev. Dr. Mitchell provided foundational support and guidance to many pioneering womanist scholars and practitioners of #WomanPreachNation. Her work and legacy provide a foundation for the spirit of care, community, and holistic support practiced by WomanPreach! Inc. As a trailblazer and barrier breaker, Rev. Dr. Mitchell inspires us to reach beyond social limits and toward what God enlivens in us.

CRITERIA: This award honors a person, organization, or group whose work is recognized as pioneering a legacy of justice, access, empowerment, and wholeness for women in preaching or women in non-profit organizations. The winners of this award have a body of work that displays uncommon advocacy and ministry on behalf of women and/or children.

DESCRIPTION: The Prathia Hall Social Justice Award is named for pastor, activist, and ethicist, Rev. Prathia Hall, Ph.D. Dr. Hall, a Philadelphia native, left her undergraduate studies at Temple University to join the throng of college students who went south to be Freedom Fighters. She joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and eventually became one of the first women field leaders in southwest Georgia. Hall helped break barriers for women’s leadership in the Baptist Church by distinguishing herself as an outstanding preacher. In 1982, she was the first woman to be received into the Baptist Ministers’ Conference in Philadelphia. After her father’s death, Dr. Hall accepted the call to pastor the church her father once pastored, Mount Sharon Baptist Church. She later enrolled in Princeton Theological Seminary and continued serving as pastor while she eventually completed her Ph.D. in ethics, specializing in womanist ethics, theology, and African-American church history. 

CRITERIA: This award honors a person, organization, or group whose prophetic voice has been obvious and effective in the public arena on behalf of marginalized populations. Awardees have a demonstrable local, national, or global impact on social policy, community organizing, civic engagement, or systemic change and care.