Anglican Journal wins 16 Canadian Church Press awards

One week after winning 17 church media awards stateside, the Anglican Journal received 16 awards from the Canadian Church Press (CCP) —including first prize for general excellence—at an event in Toronto, Friday, April 29.

One of the Anglican Journal‘s publishing partners, the Saskatchewan Anglican, also won three awards at the annual event, which recognized excellence among members of the CCP for content published in 2015.

The Journal won four first-place prizes, including general excellence in the national newspaper category for its October, November and December issues.

“Everything a denominational newspaper should be: Good writing and editing, excellent art direction , varied and energetic content,” commented the judge of the award category. “The Journal evokes a denomination that is diverse and vital. The Journal does the Anglican Church of Canada proud.”

Top honours in the personal experience/first-person account category, for a publication with circulation above 10,000, went to columnist Michelle Hauser for her piece, Beyond the bunting: marriages get better with time. Hauser also won first place in the humour category with her May column, When coffee hour gets complicated. First prize in the category of newspaper edition layout and design went to art director Saskia Rowley for the Journal’s November issue.

The Journal won six second-place awards. Art Babych won second place in the newspaper news photo category for a photo of residential school survivor Evelyn Commanda Dewache greeting Archbishop Fred Hiltz, primate of the Anglican Church of Canada, in the Journal’s September issue. Photographer Dhoui Chang took second place in the category of newspaper feature photo for pictures he took of students at a Wycliffe College course for Indigenous spiritual leaders, which appeared in the Journal’s December issue. Winning second place in the category of original artwork for a newspaper was Mouki K. Butt, for artwork accompanying the article Solace for the Soul, in the same issue.

The Journal won another second-place award in the front cover/page category for newspapers, for its November edition. In the category of newspaper feature layout and design, Rowley was honoured with second place for the feature, Profile of a diocese: Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, which appeared in the March issue. The Journal also won second place for best use of multi-media on a website, in recognition of its Eyewitness feature, which covered the Truth and Reconciliation Commission national events.

The Journal took third place in the category for editorial in a publication with circulation above 10,000, for editor Marites N. Sison’s May piece, What do they want now?, and another third for best newspaper or newsletter news story for contributor Diana Swift’s Bishops apologize for priest’s history of abuse. For best in-depth treatment of a news event in a newspaper, staff writer André Forget took third place for Profile of a diocese: Eastern Newfoundland and Labrador, in the March issue. The Journal also took third place in the interview category, for Leigh Anne Williams’s Church can help open up space for dialogue.

The Journal took an additional two third places in the area of online and integrated media: one for publication website and the other for general excellence in website design.

The Saskatchewan Anglican, the newspaper of the dioceses of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon and Qu’Appelle, won first place in the category of biographical profile in a newspaper, for the piece by Joan Irving and Elaine Hrycenko, Joan Ayres served as a Christian youth worker, in the paper’s November issue. The newspaper also won second place for columns in a publication with circulation under 10,000 in recognition of a series of columns by the Rev. Cheryl Toth; and second place for personal experience/first-person account in a publication with circulation under 10,000 for Resolutions important for a healthy body and a healthy church, by Bishop Rob Hardwick of the diocese of Qu’Appelle, which ran in the newspaper’s October issue.

These awards cap the 17 awards the Anglican Journal won a week earlier at the Associated Church Press Awards, recognizing excellence in church media in both Canada and the U.S., in St. Louis, Mo., April 22.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include the judges’ comments about the winning entries.