Broadcasters Convention takes place at Anaheim Convention Center -- Feb. 11-16, 2005

Manassas, VA—At the NRB closing banquet on Tuesday night (February 16), Mel Gibson was honored with the Board of Directors Award for his work on “The Passion of the Christ.” (Pictured: Mel Gibson at NRB 2005 - Photo by Jim Whitmer/NRB).

Gibson surprised those in attendance with his appearance. He thanked NRB members for helping to make the film so well seen. The NRB Board of Directors Award honors a Christian who demonstrates integrity, displays creativity and makes a significant impact on society. In recognition that broadcasting is not the only way to witness the power of the Gospel, the award winner may or may not be in the field of electronic communications.

The National Religious Broadcasters’ 62nd annual convention/exposition took place at the Anaheim Convention Center, where technology proved to be at the forefront. The first-ever NRB Tech Lab showcased many of the most high-end, multi-revolutionary products in side-by-side comparisons from some of the best-known broadcast manufacturing companies in the world. Products from Panasonic, Sony, Grass Valley, Apple, and Yamaha were among those featured at the convention. This is an extremely exciting opportunity that allowed broadcasters to see side-by-side comparisons of cameras, video editing suites, and other systems. The Tech Lab is a partnership between NRB and noted systems integrator TV Magic.

NRB President Dr. Frank Wright stated, “For Christian broadcasters, technical quality and innovation are essential to fulfilling our mission of proclaiming the good news of eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ We believe that the addition of the Tech Lab is a very beneficial way to highlight some of the latest advances in technology.”

NRB is an association of over 1600 organizations representing radio, television, film and internet. TV Magic agreed that the Tech Lab focused some of the on the Digital Television (DTV) transition, the new tapeless revolution (These cameras record onto a hard drive, instead of a tape.) and products like Sony’s Blue-violet Laser certainly proved to be making an impact on the most savvy, technologically advanced professionals. In other news, Dr. Ron Harris was also elected as Chairman of the Board, along with other newly elected board members, which include: Jim Gwinn (Vice Chair), Janet Parshall (Second Vice), Rich Bott (Secretary), Roger Kemp (Treasurer), Stu Epperson, Bill Skelton, Michael Little, Bill Blount and Robin Jones.

Dr. James Kennedy and the late Dr. Steven Olford were inducted into the NRB Hall of Fame. Former NRB Chairman, Glenn Plummer was also honored by the NRB for his three years of outstanding service.

For the second consecutive year the NRB exposition has been named by TradeShow Weekly as one of the 50 Fastest Growing Industry Expositions in the nation. More than 6,000 broadcasters attended NRB 2005.

For more information on NRB 2005, or to schedule limited interviews, contact NRB Director of Media Relations, Bob Powers, at 703-331-4513 or by email at . For all the details about NRB 2005, visit http://www.nrb.org.

NRB is a non-partisan, international association of Christian communicators with more than 1,600 member organizations representing millions of listeners, viewers and readers. NRB’s three-fold vision is to 1) proclaim the Good News of eternal life through Jesus Christ, 2) transform the culture through the application of sound biblical teaching, and 3) preserve religious freedom by keeping the doors of electronic media open for the spread of the Gospel.