Skinner Sermon Award
Presented annually to the preacher of the sermon best expressing Unitarian Universalism’s social principles.
The Skinner Sermon Award honors Clarence Skinner, the late dean of the Tufts College School of Religion in Medford, MA. and a major voice of prophetic religious liberalism. As Professor of Applied Christianity at Tufts College (now Tufts University) from 1914 to 1945, he introduced generations of Tufts students to the social, economic, and political realities that shape religion and are in turn shaped by it. His manifesto, The Social Implications of Universalism (1915), gave American Universalism an ethical platform by stating the religious underpinnings of such reforms as abolition, women’s liberation, and the humane treatment of prisoners.
The first recipient of the Skinner Sermon Award was Rev. Manuel R. Holland in 1959.
Open to any Unitarian Universalist layperson, religious educator, or minister, the Skinner Sermon award was established to stimulate preaching concerned with the social implications of religion—particularly needed in this period of history. Criteria employed in judging the sermons include: grasp of the subject, religious depth, originality, conviction, and understanding of other perspectives. These qualities are also considered: prophecy and timeliness, courage, personal involvement, strong argument, orientation to action, and inspiration.
The award carries an honorarium of $500.
Learn about past recipients of the Skinner Sermon Award.
2024 Winner
Rev. Molly Housh Gordon, “How to Have an Enemy” (YouTube)” (PDF, pages)
Learn about past recipients of the Skinner Sermon Award.
Requirements for Submission
We particularly encourage and invite sermons that speak to one of our four intersectional justice priorities (bodily autonomy inclusive of reproductive justice and trans liberation; decriminalization; democracy and electoral justice; and climate justice).
Submissions must be received by April 25, 2026 and decisions will be announced in June. One submission per person. Entries must have been offered in the award year (ie, 2025 award submissions must have been offered in 2025).
Sermons may be submitted as video recordings (preferred) or as a written document. Please be sure to include the author’s name, address, church affiliation, phone number, email address, and indication of when and where the sermon was delivered in your email submission.
Send to: socialjustice@uua.org, with ‘Skinner Sermon Award Submission’ in the subject line.