Diocese paper earns awards

Staff report

youngstown

The Catholic Exponent, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Youngstown, won three Catholic Press Awards at the recent Catholic Media Convention on June 22-24 in Pittsburgh.

The Catholic Press Association awarded a second place nationally in the “Best Regular Column: Scripture” category to three “Word” columns by the Rev. James Walker, pastor of St. James and Sts. Cyril and Methodius Church in Warren and chaplain at ValleyCare Health System/Trumbull Memorial Hospital.

The winning columns were “My Earliest Christmas Gift,” “A Person’s Life Renders Witness to Values, Priorities” and “We Must Be Influenced By Christ-like People.”

The judges wrote that “these columns are pithy and well-presented. The concepts and invitation to thinking about the Sunday readings has depth and challenge. Poignant stories make valuable connections.”

Father Walker has written two original Scripture reflection columns per issue for the Exponent since 2001.

He won first prize nationally in the same category in 2009.

Two editorials by Lou Jacquet, Exponent editor and general manager, won third-place awards nationally in different categories.

In the “Best Editorial on a Local Issue” in the 17,000-40,000 circulation category, Jacquet’s editorial on the murder of a parishioner after Mass at St. Dominic Parish was awarded a third place.

It was titled “After the Murder: Volatile and Vexing Questions Remain.”

The judges wrote: “This editorial is a good effort at rallying the troops in the wake of a tragic murder. The editorial admirably appeals to the higher nature of the readers and confronts the nationwide issue of churches in old neighborhoods abandoned by the original flock.”

In the category for “Best Editorial on a National or International Issue” in the 17,000-40,000 circulation category, Jacquet’s editorial on the BP Gulf oil spill also won an award.

The judges said: “This editorial manages to break new ground in the Gulf oil disaster by reminding readers that the grunt workers for BP are people, too, and they could also be hurt by the calamity.”

Jacquet has won numerous awards for his editorials, columns, book reviews, and news and sports reporting since beginning his career at the Catholic Exponent in 1977.

He has also edited diocesan newspapers in Fort Wayne, Ind., and Wilmington, Del., in addition to serving as associate editor and then editor of Our Sunday Visitor, a national Catholic weekly, in the 1980s.

He has been editor of the Exponent since 1996 and editor/general manager since 1997.

Jacquet is a member of St. Brendan Church.

The Exponent was also honored with an Archbishop O’Meara Award presented by a Catholic mission organization during the event.

The Pontifical Mission Society awarded first place in its “Diocesan/Archdiocesan Newspapers: Mission Animation” category of the Archbishop O’Meara Awards to veteran freelance journalist Debora Shaulis Flora for her profile of Sister Judy Gomila of the Marianites of the Holy Cross in the Oct. 1, 2010, issue of the Catholic Exponent.

The article was “New Orleans Nun Shares Lively Insights into Role of Missions.”

Flora is a member of St. Brendan.

The accompanying photo by Rick Walker, a Catholic Exponent freelance photographer and former staffer at diocesan Catholic Charities, was also awarded the first place. Walker is a member of Immaculate Conception Church in Ravenna.

The Exponent received the prizes from the mission group during a ceremony at the convention.

The Rev. Edward Brienz, associate pastor at St. Columba Cathedral and director of the diocesan office of Missions/Evangelization, accepted for the Exponent and the diocese.