The Irish Catholic has won four awards and received an honourable mention in this year’s Catholic Press Awards, the first time this newspaper has ever competed in the industry competition.
The awards were announced at the Catholic Press Association (CPA) annual conference, held this year in Green Bay, Wisconsin, with The Irish Catholic receiving a first-place award in the ‘Best Supplement or Special Issue’ category for the October 2017 issue ‘Reformation 500: Five Hundred Years, 1517-2017’.
The CPA described the issue as a “remarkable study of Luther, his times and the consequences of his questioning”. Praising how it enabled deeper understandings of Luther’s impact, it concluded “this wonderfully detailed and well written section certainly could be a text for anyone wanting to know more about Luther, his times and the consequences of his deep concern”.
A second-place award for ‘Best reporting on vocations to priesthood, religious life or diaconate’ was given to Greg Daly’s August 2017 analysis ‘Maynooth: ready for a vocations reboot?’
“This carefully crafted piece begins with an examination of the troubled Maynooth seminary in Ireland but soon widens to look at not only efforts to reinvent Maynooth but also to the numbers of persons studying for the clergy in Ireland and worldwide to give us a taste of cautious optimism seasoned with a healthy dose of realism,” the CPA said, describing the article as “a great read for those contemplating the future of the clergy”.
A series of articles on the Standards in Public Office’s attempts to tackle the issue of illegal foreign funding for key pro-choice organisations that pushed for this year’s abortion referendum won a third place award for ‘Best investigative/analysis news writing’.
The CPA described these as “detailed reporting that makes a concerted effort to explain complex legal and political issues” and observed that in these pieces “direct reporting mixed with in-depth analysis well serves the reader”.
The Irish Catholic also won a third-place award for the ‘Best explanation of the Church’s position on marriage’, the CPA observed that analyses of Pope Francis’ Amoris Laetitia were “well-reasoned and accessible” and “useful and impactful”.
Finally, Chai Brady’s coverage of Pope Francis’s visit to Myanmar last November was given an honourable mention in the category of ‘Best coverage of the papal trips overseas’.
