Catholic Vancouver June 17, 2021
B.C. Catholic picks up nine awards from Catholic Media Association
By B.C. Catholic Staff
The B.C. Catholic has received nine awards from the Catholic Media Association, including first place honours in investigative reporting as well as layout and design.
The awards, which were announced at the 2021 Catholic Media Conference, bring to 18 the total number of honours for The B.C. Catholic this year. In April the newspaper received nine awards from the Canadian Christian Communicators Association, including first place in newspaper general excellence.
The awards are given annually by the Catholic Media Association to members across Canada and the U.S. It was the second year the CPA awards ceremony was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Agnieszka Ruck’s series Separated at Birth, which examined the history of forced adoptions in Canada, won first place in best investigative news writing for diocesan newspapers.
Designer Inca Siojo won first place for best illustration with Voices of Courage, her depiction of a group of people socializing and which accompanied a story on Catholics with same-sex attraction.
Siojo won first place in the diocesan newspaper layout category for her two-page design of a feature on retired B.C. Lions quarterback Travis Lulay.
She also took second place in the same layout category for her design of Letters to Priests, which featured letters written by the faithful to their clergy.
Editor Paul Schratz took second place for best editorial on a national or international issue with A Consultation that Needs You, which criticized the federal government’s consultation process on expanding euthanasia.
The B.C. Catholic also received honourable mentions in several categories, including best front page for Siojo’s layout of a tribute to health-care workers.
The newspaper received an honourable mention for best coverage of local politics with its Catholic Voters Guide, produced in partnership with Catholic Conscience for the B.C. election. The guide was also honoured by the CCCA in the category of service journalism.
Ruck’s coverage of the Delta Hospice controversy won her an honourable mention for best analysis/background/round-up news writing (The Gerard E. Sherry Award).
And for the third straight year the archdiocese’s Communications Department was recognized in the best annual report category, receiving second place for Baptized and Sent: 2019/2020 Annual Report of the Archdiocese of Vancouver, available in both web and pdf formats.
