c. 1997 Religion News Service
CHICAGO _ Religion News Service (RNS) reporters won three first-place citations in the annual Associated Church Press contest with stories ranging from its coverage of the Republican National Convention, the refugee crisis in Burundi and the death of Cardinal Joseph L. Bernardin.
RNS National Correspondent Ira Rifkin won a first-place”award of excellence,”with judges citing the”clarity of the writing,”for a series of articles on the role of religion at the Republican National Convention.
John Fleming, an RNS reporter in Africa, won a first-place”award of excellence”for a series of in-depth, on-the-scene reports on the crisis in Burundi. The judge called Fleming’s work”coherent and powerful.”A package of photos accompanying Fleming’s stories by photographer Chris Collingridge won a second-place award.
RNS Editor David E. Anderson also took a first-place award for his reporting on the death of Chicago’s Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, which the judge called”exquisite, graceful, and _ at times _ downright heart-wrenching.” Dale Hanson Bourke, RNS publisher and columnist, won a second-place award for her column”The Truth Shall Make You Odd,”which the judge said was a”classic editorial.” Sojourners, the eclectic evangelical Washington, D.C.-based magazine, won the top award for the association’s”topic of the year,”race relations. The Chicago-based, mainline Protestant-oriented Christian Century won the top award for in-depth magazine reporting for its coverage of Bosnia. The Century garnered a total of nine awards.
Other top awards included:
_ The Catholic Sun, Phoenix, Ariz.: best regional newspaper.
_ Anglican Journal, Toronto, Canada: best national or regional newspaper.
_ Presbyterians Today: best denominational general-interest magazine.
_ The Other Side: best general-interest magazine, not denominational.
_ Reformed Worship: best special-interest magazine.
_ Presbyterian Life and Times: best newsletter.
U.S. Catholic, the Chicago-based magazine published by the Claretians, took a total of 14 awards.
MJP END RNS
