Catholic Outlook has won the ‘Best News Story’ category at the Australasian Catholic Press Association (ACPA) Awards on Thursday, 12 September, 2019.
Mary Brazell, Communications Officer, Diocese of Parramatta, won the award for her piece entitled “Granville parishioners gather to farewell a stranger.”
The piece detailed the generosity of parishioners at Holy Trinity Parish, Granville, in attending a funeral for a complete stranger who had no friends or family.
RELATED: Granville parishioners gather to farewell a stranger.
The ACPA Awards judges described the winning entry as “a beautifully written and atypical story. It makes news out of something not normally considered newsworthy: the sad fact that Christopher Baker died alone and expected his funeral to have no attendees, other than the priest. Yet thanks to social media, parishioners who did not know him came. If news tends to be sensationalist, this provides a touching counter balance.”
Catholic media and communications professionals gathered in Bathurst last week for the association’s annual conference, culminating in Mass at the Cathedral of St Michael and St John with Bishop Michael McKenna, and the awards dinner.
The awards, which are held annually, recognise excellence in Catholic magazines, newspapers and digital publications across Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific.
The Good Oil, the e-newsletter published by the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, received the Bishop Kennedy Award for Overall Excellence in a Catholic Publication during the awards ceremony.
The Good Oil won the major prize, the Bishop Kennedy Award, as well as Best Electronic Publication. The NZ-based Marist Messenger was awarded Best Print Magazine, while Adelaide’s The Southern Cross won Best Newspaper.
Full list of winners:
Best News Story
Winner
Mary Brazell – Catholic Outlook
‘Granville Parishioners gather to farewell a stranger.’
Highly Commended
Mark Bowling – The Catholic Leader
‘It’s never too late’
Best Feature Story
Winner
Debbie Cramsie – The Catholic Weekly
‘Saving Sydney’s Desperate Souls’
Highly Commended
Francine Crimmins – Australian Catholics
‘Women pioneer new models of Church’
Best Editorial
Winner
Fr Robert McCulloch – The Far East
‘Christians and Muslims in Asia and blasphemy laws in Pakistan’
Highly Commended
Michael McVeigh – Eureka Street
‘Advice to new Bombers fan bishop’
Best Column
Winner
Sister Patty Falkner – The Good Oil
Highly Commended
Catherine Day – Broken Bay News
Best Headline
Winner
Marist Messenger
‘A Very Modern Model of a Marist Seminarian!’
Highly Commended
Eureka Street
‘Dress sense or political statement? It’s a tie’
Best Mission Coverage
Winner
Anne Sutherland and Daniel Hopper – Journey
‘I was in prison and you visited me’
Highly Commended
Debra Vermeer – The Good Oil
‘70 years since six Good Samaritans set sail for Nagasaki’
Best Social Justice Coverage
Winner
Lisa Beech – The Nathaniel Report
‘Poverty and abortion’
Highly Commended
Debbie Cramsie, Marilyn Rodrigues and Catherine Sheehan – The Catholic Weekly
Series of articles on Homelessness
Best Education Coverage
Winner
Lindy McNamara – The Southern Cross
‘Celebrating “joyous” learning at Our Lady of La Vang’
Highly Commended
Chris Gordon – Catholic Voice
‘To Christchurch: From Cooma, with Love’
Best Article on Catechesis
Winner
Loretta Coman – Horizons
‘Ministry Spotlight: SPRED’
Peter Gilmore – Journey
‘An Unlikely Message – Virtue and the Jordan Peterson Phenomenon’
Best Devotional Article Applying Faith to Life
Winner
Anne Sutherland and Daniel Hopper – Journey
‘Alpha: A powerful message’
Highly Commended
Deacon Peter McCulloch – Broken Bay News
‘God is an equal partner in our marriage’
Best Feature Multiple Authors
Winner
Tui Motu
‘Dialogue and Collaboration’
Highly Commended #1
NZ Catholic
‘Christchurch mosque attacks’
Highly Commended #2
Australian Catholics
‘How do you pray?’
Best Original Photograph
Winner
Jonathan Pierce – Marist Messenger
Highly Commended
Atu Luvina – Fiji Catholic Times
Best Magazine Front Cover
Winner
Madonna
Winter 2018
Highly Commended
Melbourne Catholic
April edition
Best Newspaper Front Page
Winner
Good News
‘Good news from around the Catholic Diocese of Rockhampton’
Highly Commended
The Catholic Leader
‘God is there for us’
Best Layout and Design – Online Publication
Winner
Eureka Street
Best Layout and Design – Magazine
Winner
Melbourne Catholic
Highly Commended
Aurora
Best Layout and Design – Newspaper
Winner
The Catholic Leader
Highly Commended
The Southern Cross
Most Improved Publication
Winner
Broken Bay News
Highly Commended
Horizons
Best use of Electronic Media
Winner
Melbourne Catholic
Podcast
Highly Commended
Emrys Jansen – The Nathaniel Report
Best Advertising Feature / Supplement
Winner
The Catholic Weekly
Sydney Catholic Schools Christmas Book
Highly Commended
Judith Gardner – Good News
The Morning Bulletin
Best Ecumenical / Interfaith Story
Winner
Zain Ali – Tui Motu
‘Jesus and Mary in the Qur’an’
Highly Commended
Ashleigh Green – The Good Oil
‘From strangers to cousins’
Best Online Publication
Winner
The Good Oil
Highly Commended
Eureka Street
Best Print Magazine
Winner
Marist Messenger
Highly Commended
The Majellan
Best Newspaper
Winner
The Southern Cross
Highly Commended
The Catholic Leader
Bishop Philip Kennedy Memorial Award for Overall Excellence in a Catholic Publication
Winner
The Good Oil
With thanks to the Australasian Catholic Press Association (ACPA).