By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
ST. LOUIS | The Florida Catholic took top honors at the 2016 Catholic Media Conference June 1-3, including two first-place awards and four other awards.
The Catholic Press Association awarded a first place for best coverage of the papal visit to Cuba and the U.S. The winning package included six articles, written by staff members Jean Gonzalez and Linda Reeves, along with correspondents Laura Dodson, Ana Rodriguez-Soto and Angelique Ruhi-Lopez.
Photographer: FILE PHOTO
The Florida Catholic newspaper received a first-place award in the category best coverage of the papal visit to the U.S. and Cuba. The story package included stories from Florida Catholic Miami editor Ana Rodriguez-Soto, and Florida Cathoilic Miami contributing writer Angelique Ruhi-Lopez.
Photographer: FILE PHOTO
Reeves, editor of the Palm Beach edition, penned a profile on Salesian Brother Salvatore “Sal” Sammarco, a religious brother serving St. Philip Benizi Parish in Belle Glade, who was selected to lead construction of the chair Pope Francis used when he celebrated Mass at Madison Square Garden.
Gonzalez, editorial-online director for the statewide edition, contributed two stories: one on seminarians’ experiences traveling to Washington, D.C., to see the pope, and another chronicling a White House staffer who grew up in Lakeland whose infant daughter received a papal blessing in the hallways of the U.S. Capitol.
Rodriguez-Soto, editor of the Miami edition, offered a first-person account of returning to her native Cuba for the papal visit, and both Orlando-based Dodson and Miami-based Ruhi-Lopez offered stories chronicling the Meeting of Families in Philadelphia.
Judges described the package as: “Very well-done pieces that find the local story in an international event. Pieces are well written and well-paced, giving readers a window on the emotions of the event.”
“Our staff beat out larger diocesan newspapers that were in the heart of the papal visits,” said Ann Borowski-Slade, managing editor of the statewide newspaper, which publishes editions for the dioceses of Orlando, Palm Beach and Venice. The staff in Orlando also handle layout, advertising and circulation for the Miami edition.
Second, third and honorable mentions in the papal visit category went to the diocesan newspapers of Brooklyn, N.Y.; Washington, D.C.; and New York City, respectively.
“It displays our commitment to offer the best stories possible for our readers, most of whom could not be physically present for the visits,” said Borowski-Slade.
For the second straight year, the whole Florida Catholic staff took home first-place honors for its print circulation promotion campaign. The judges said the campaign was an “outstanding submission” that “demonstrated a complete documented strategy for print circulation campaign.”
The campaign featured the question “What do you prefer?” as it highlighted the choices of the printed paper, its electronic edition or both.
Two editorial awards focused on the paper’s excellence in coverage of vocations.
Jim Davis, a contributor for the Miami and Palm Beach editions, was recognized with a third-place award for a popular series with readers — Who’s who in the Catholic Church. In the series, which has appeared in the Palm Beach paper for the past two years, Davis offers a question and answer with a local priest or woman religious.
His third-place win was in the category of best coverage of vocations to the priesthood, religious life or diaconate. The judges applauded Davis’ format.
“The key to a Q & A is the strengths of the ‘Q,’ and this series of articles comes through. Questions like the challenges to the Church from immigrants, priest stereotypes, what seminary did not prepare them for, what one question would they ask God, their most spiritual moment. Read the stories to get the ‘A’ part,” the judges wrote.
The paper also took an honorable mention in the same category for its “Priest Jubilarians” special section, which offers profiles of 25-year and 50-year jubilarians of the Orlando, Palm Beach and Venice dioceses.
Writers of those profiles included staffer Gonzalez, along with Davis and correspondents Marjorie Durante and Linda Caldwell in Orlando.
Designer Michael Jimenez’s “Priest Retirement Collection” ad won honorable mention for best single color ad originating with the publication. The judges said the ad had a good use of color, imagery and space that provided a “clean, clear message,” and a “good logical/emotional blend and a good call to action.”
The statewide paper’s newest writer for its Sunday Word columns, Father Brian Campbell, parochial vicar of Our Lady Queen of the Apostles in Royal Palm Beach, was awarded third place for a series of his columns that appeared in September 2015.
One judge wrote, “I think the writer makes nice connections between everyday life experiences and the Scriptures. Conversational and easy to understand and enjoy.”
“We couldn’t be more proud of our editorial, advertising and business teams,” Borowski-Slade said. “We are not a large staff, but we are a talented one. And it is always humbling and uplifting to receive national kudos for our hard work.”
