Inside
NCR NCR claims top spot in press association awards
The Catholic Press Association, at
its annual meeting in Baltimore in late May, proclaimed National Catholic
Reporter the best national Catholic newspaper in the country. Among a
plethora of other awards was a first to John Allen for best personality
profile and another first to the NCR staff for best seasonal
issue.
Very impressive, wrote the judges in adjudicating
NCR No. 1 national Catholic newspaper. A complete publication,
perfect in its graphic realization. Articles are well written and competently
reported with superior depth and context. Commentaries, opinions and editorials
are all first rank, a real strength of the paper. More letters published than
any competitor entries. Headlines to the point. Big plusses for not turning
away from controversy. Authoritative writers that understand all sides of
controversies they cover. Absolutely top drawer art and strong
photography.
The other awards are too numerous to detail them all. We had
successes in the best front page category, in best
analysis/background writing, best regular column (several
placements), best photo story originating with the newspaper,
best headline, most effective circulation promotion,
and more.
Of Allens first-place [Andrew] Greeley: Still Telling
Stories, the judges wrote: An interesting and engaging story that
manages to maintain a high reader interest level throughout a long article
about a well-known figure. Although most people may think they know Andrew
Greeley, the skillful writing kept us reading. Allen crafts what Greeley
himself praises -- a good story, well worth reading.
The seasonal issue already mentioned was that of
Christmas: The Jesus 2000 competition and subsequent insert is the most
creative and original contribution to the usually tired seasonal contributions.
A perfect blending of Christmas and millennium. The insert is superbly designed
and produced.
The superb design is the achievement of Art Director
and Layout Editor Toni-Ann Ortiz, who makes the paper look better each week,
and who won yet another award for best use of syndicated or wire-service
art or graphics, of which the experts said, a well designed
illustration treatment/technique and headline style that illustrates clearly
the storys message.
Proofreader-poetry editor Gill
Donovan has been the inspiring leader of the poetry renaissance hereabouts,
ably abetted by Patty McCarty, while I was the rather inept third culprit on
the poetry team.
I was reminded just how inept this past week when we seers sat
down to consider the rich vein of verse vying for viewing. One short one, a
haiku to be exact, ended with the word pony -- since its short I
suggest you now turn to POETRY and read it.
I confess the pony reference was lost on me until McCarty
explained about the allegedly well-known story of the boy who wanted a pony for
Christmas. To his great delight he received a very big box under what must have
been a very big tree. He opened it eagerly, flinging wrappings left and right.
He was immediately confronted by a large amount of pony poop, which he also
flung left and right, searching ever deeper into the box. But each pony chip
merely uncovered more pony chips. The kid, however, grew all the more excited.
Asked why, he gave the obvious answer: Under all this pony stuff there has to
be a pony.
National Catholic Reporter, June 16,
2000
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