Journal wins 12 Canadian Church Press Awards

The Anglican Journal won 12 awards on May 4 at the Canadian Church Press annual awards banquet in Toronto – five of them first place citations. The awards recognize work published in 2006.

The first place awards honoured:

* in the newspaper features category, staff writer Marites N. Sison’s November story about rural ministry in Saskatchewan, entitled Rural ministry requires ‘a strong spirituality;’ lay people are the cornerstone;

*   in the feature layout and design category, art director Saskia Rowley’s work on the Saskatchewan rural ministry feature;

*    in the newspaper editorial category, editor Leanne Larmondin’s February editorial, The story behind the story of church membership;

*     in the biographical profile category, staff writer Solange De Santis’ May story about filmmaker Richard Stringer entitled Filmmaker turns lens on his own family;

*    in the original artwork category, freelance artist Anna Payne-Krzyzanowski’s November illustration for a Remembrance Day reflection on military chaplains.

Second-place awards cited:

*    in the colour photo spread category, art director Saskia Rowley’s work with the photographs accompany the Saskatchewan rural ministry feature;

*     in the narrative category, Rev. Major Robert A. Lauder’s November reflection on the work of military chaplains, entitled We hold their experience in our hands and cherish it.

Third-place awards honoured:

*     in the layout and design of an edition, art director Saskia Rowley, for the November issue;

*     in the colour photo category, Debra Fieguth’s May photograph of a mother and child in Kenya affected by AIDS;

*     in the theological reflection (doctrinal) category, Bishop William Hockin’s April article, Testing the tent poles of Anglicanism;

*     in the media review category, three examples of arts reviews from the Journal’s culture page (entries submitted included Ms. Sison’s May review of books about the spirituality of gardening, freelancer Wayne Holst’s January film review of The Narnia Chronicles, and the April issue’s collection of reviews of books aimed at children, entitled Out of the mouths of babes (and teens). The reviews were done by children of Journal staff;

*      for in-depth treatment of a news event, Marites N. Sison and Solange De Santis’ coverage over several issues of the native residential schools legal settlement.

Crosstalk, the newspaper of the Anglican diocese of Ottawa, garnered five awards. Editor Art Babych was awarded first place in the black and white photo category for his picture of Bishop Andrew Atagotaaluk, second place for a colour photo of Bishop Peter Coffin, second place in the newspaper front page category for the October issue, third place in the colour photo spread category for photos of Bishop Hamilton School and third place in the open poetry category for his poem The Highway.

The Canadian Church Press, which celebrated its 50^th anniversary at the weekend convention that included the awards dinner, is a professional organization for Canadian Christian publications.

Last month, the Anglican Journal won the award of excellence in the Best in Class/National or International Newspaper category at the Associated Church Press awards banquet in Chicago. It also picked up an additional five awards in the categories of feature article, design, letters to the editor, illustration and media review.