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Issue Date: June 16, 2006 NCR takes top award for seventh year By NCR STAFF The National Catholic Reporter has won the first-place general excellence award for national newspapers from the Catholic Press Association for the seventh year in a row. The paper also took seven other first place awards for writing and editorials and 11 second place, third place and honorable mention awards in various categories. The judges said of NCR, The winner by a mile. NCR provides courageous, incisive, well-written coverage on the issues of the day. NCR serves not only Catholics well, but readers of all faiths in providing an interesting and provocative view of its community. Judging was done by the American Press Institute. The awards were announced May 26 at the 2006 Catholic Media Convocation in Nashville, Tenn. In the national newspaper category for general excellence, The Catholic Register in Toronto won second place and the National Catholic Register in North Haven, Conn., took third. NCR received first place for best editorial on a national or international issue in a national newspaper for its Oct. 28 editorial The sin must be named. The editorial called on bishops across the country to appoint panels of respected Catholics and give them access to all files and records pertaining to sexual abuse by clergy and church employees. The editorial said the panels should construct as detailed a narrative as possible -- without violating confidences or naming priests who have not been credibly accused -- of what occurred in each local church. Then the community will know what to forgive. Without that step [full disclosure], the path to the future remains blocked. The judges commented, The editorial is strong yet reasonable and it makes a bold plea for accountability a superb job of persuasive writing. NCR also took third place for editorial writing for its May 20, 2005, editorial on the firing of Jesuit Fr. Thomas Reese as editor of America magazine. Other awards for NCR were:
Diocesan newspapers winning first-place general excellence awards were The Catholic Spirit, St. Paul, Minn., 40,001-plus circulation; The Colorado Catholic Herald, Colorado Springs, Colo., 17,001-40,000 circulation; and Hawaii Catholic Herald, Honolulu, circulation up to 17,000. Robert Ellsbergs Blessed Among All Women captured first place for popular presentation of the Catholic faith in the Catholic Press Associations annual book awards. Judges said, He is not above rocking the boat in his reflections about such women as Sojourner Truth, Anne Frank and Dorothy Day, and such biblical figures as Hagar the Egyptian and the Samaritan woman. It was published by Crossroad Publishing Co. in New York. Franciscan Fr. Jack Wintz, a member of the staff of St. Anthony Messenger magazine in Cincinnati for 33 years, is the 2006 winner of the St. Francis de Sales Award, the highest honor given to an individual by the Catholic Press Association. New Orleans Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes received the Bishop John England Award, which honors Catholic publishers commitment to press freedom. Owen McGovern, executive director of the CPA from 1988 to 2005, received a special St. Francis de Sales Award for his service to the Catholic press. National Catholic Reporter, June 16, 2006 |
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