Religion: Awards

For the Rev. William Howard Melish, party-lining supply minister (for the past seven years) of Brooklyn's Holy Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church, it was an award-winning week. From the Communist World Peace Council in Vienna last week, he learned that he had won an International Peace Prize of $14,000 and a gold medal for his "devoted . . . struggle for peace and friendship of all the people." From Brooklyn's Appellate Division he won another legal victory in his hassle with Holy Trinity's vestry and the bishop of Long Island over whether they can replace him with a permanent pastor.

Five court justices unanimously upheld a previous court decision denying the anti-Melish forces a temporary injunction to restrain Melish from conducting services. Left waiting outside the church: the Rev. Dr. Herman S. Sidener, designated as Holy Trinity's new rector by Bishop James P. DeWolfe of Long Island.