Published on May 9, 2025 by Joelle Youngblood  
BCA Grand Prize

Rene Zimny, assistant professor of graphic design in Samford University’s School of the Arts, has earned national recognition for his work in visual storytelling and brand development. His achievements were honored by the Baptist Communicators Association (BCA), a national network of marketing and communication professionals representing state conventions, missions agencies, seminaries, universities and churches within the Southern Baptist Convention. The honors were presented as part of the Wilmer C. Fields Awards Competition, held during BCA’s annual workshop in San Antonio, Texas, in April.

Zimny was awarded the prestigious Albert McClellan Award for Exceptional Achievement in Print Media & Design, which is one of only seven grand prizes presented annually by the Baptist Communicators Association (BCA).

To win the Albert McClellan Award, Zimny’s project was evaluated against all other first-place winners from the Design Division. This elite group included the International Mission Board, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Union University, Samford’s Beeson Divinity School and communications teams from state conventions in Arkansas, California, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and West Virginia.

Zimny also earned first place in the “Logo – New” category of the Design Division for his rebranding work with Bogg Springs Baptist Camp in Arkansas. The Design Division, the largest in the competition, received more than 70 entries, with over 350 submissions in total across all categories. The grand prize places Zimny’s work in the top 2% of all entries and the top 1% of design submissions.

In the “Logo – New” category, Zimny’s work outperformed entries from top-tier institutions, with second and third place going to Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Baptists.

The award-winning logo was part of a full visual identity redesign for Bogg Springs Baptist Camp. “The design objective was to preserve and enhance the unique identity of Bogg Springs Baptist Camp,” Zimny said. “We wanted to ensure its physical and experiential attributes aligned with the vision of the camp to provide a spiritually enriching, adventurous, and memorable escape for campers.”

In addition to his award-winning design work, Zimny also served as a speaker at BCA’s annual workshop. His breakout session, titled “Shared Vision, Greater Success: Optimizing Freelancer Relationships,” focused on building collaborative frameworks between creative professionals and organizations to achieve exceptional outcomes.

“I’m incredibly honored to have been recognized by BCA both as a designer and educator at their national conference this year,” Zimny said. “I love continuing to ‘get my hands dirty’ in the field, helping small businesses and non-profits better tell their stories to the world through quality design. And it’s always a privilege to connect with designers and communications leaders and have the opportunity to contribute, even in a small way, to their professional development.”

 
Samford is a leading Christian university offering undergraduate programs grounded in the liberal arts with an array of nationally recognized graduate and professional schools. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th-oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Samford enrolls 6,101 students from 45 states, Puerto Rico and 16 countries in its 10 academic schools: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy and public health. Samford fields 17 athletic teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference and ranks with the second highest score in the nation for its 98% Graduation Success Rate among all NCAA Division I schools.