Catholic Outlook awarded Best News Story at ACPA Awards

16 September 2019
Mary Brazell accepts the 'Best News Story' award from Bishop Michael McKenna, Bishop of Bathurst, during the ACPA Awards. Image: ACPA.

 

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).

 

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