EWTN Press Release: CPA Awards

National Catholic Register
and EWTN Gain CPA Awards

IRONDALE, Ala. — The National Catholic Register took home a total of nine awards, including top prizes for Best Front Page (broadsheet), Best News Writing on a National or International Event, and Best Feature Writing for a National Newspaper at the Catholic Press Association’s 2015 Catholic Media Conference.

Held June 24-26 in Buffalo, N.Y., the annual awards recognize excellence in Catholic publishing on a diocesan and national level. Judging is conducted “by a group of experts and Catholic press professionals,” according to CPA guidelines.

For the second consecutive year, the Register won first place for Best Front Page, for its covers of April 20, May 4 and May 18. They were compiled by Editor in Chief Jeanette De Melo, Managing Editor Tom Wehner, Associate Editor Amy Smith, News Editor Tom McFeely and Graphic Artist Melissa Hartog.

“Edition after edition, the Register’s editors strive to put our very best on page one and it’s truly rewarding to see that hard work and creativity recognized by our Catholic media colleagues,” said De Melo.
The Register also won first place for its coverage of the crisis in Ukraine, written by Victor Gaetan.

CPA judges awarded the Register second place for General Excellence (national newspaper) and to film critic and blogger Steven D. Greydanus for Best Regular Column: Culture, the Arts, and Leisure. Greydanus won for his columns “Good Priest Walks Hard Road to ‘Calvary’,” “Rocking the Boat” and “Exodus Gods and Kings: Theological Reflections.”

The Register also won third place for Best News Writing Originating With the Paper on an International Event: “Syrian and Iraqi Refugee ‘Mega-Crisis’ Is Out of Control,” written by Washington Correspondent Peter Jesserer Smith; Best Regular Column: Culture, the Arts and Leisure for “Genetically Modified Food Bad, Genetically Modified Humans Good,” “Entering the Bionic Age: Why Be You When You Can Be New,” and “Shut Up and Be Grateful for Your Life: We Need to Listen To Children Conceived Through Third-Party Reproduction,” written by Rebecca Taylor; Best Coverage of Religious Liberty Issues, for “Silence in Nineveh,” and “Hobby Lobby Has Its Day in Court,” by Senior Editor Joan Frawley ,” and “Severing the Roots of the Liberty Tree,” by Martin Nussbaum and Eric Kniffin”; and for Best Explanation of the Church’s Position on Marriage, for “Gram Josephine: Witness to the Truth About Marriage,” Dennis Michael Manning,” “Asking the Right Question on Annulment Reform,” by Benedict Nguyen and “The Naturalness of Marriage,” by Donald DeMarco.

“We’ve got the finest bunch of writers in Catholic media in our pages,’ De Melo said. “The works CPA cited for excellence show the wide range of Register coverage — from serious reports on world events to the reasoned perspectives on cultural issues that touch our communities and even our own homes.”

Additionally, Greydanus was also a co-recipient with David DiCerto of a Gabriel Award for the Reel Faith television program on NET TV, run by the Diocese of Brooklyn.

EWTN, the Register’s parent organization, took home its second consecutive Gabriel Award for Religious Television Station of the Year and EWTN Radio won a certificate of merit for its show Blessed 2 Play.
“While we aren’t in journalism to collect a bunch of awards, we are here to tell the story of the Church today and cover the intersection of faith and public life,” said De Melo. “Nevertheless, it’s always gratifying to know we’re doing our job well. Congratulations to the Register staff, correspondents and bloggers for the fine journalism in service to the Church.”

The award-winning National Catholic Register (www.NCRegister.com) provides its readers with timely news reporting from across the United States, the Vatican, and around the world. As the newspaper of record for the Catholic Church in America, the Register and its online presence,NCRegister.com, have become America’s most complete and faithful Catholic news source. It is published bi-weekly, 26 issues per year. The National Catholic Register also produces Register Radio, a weekly program that airs on EWTN’s radio network.


EWTN Global Catholic Network, in its 34th year, is available in over 238 million television households in more than 140 countries and territories. With its direct broadcast satellite television and radio services, AM & FM radio networks, worldwide short-wave radio station, Internet website www.ewtn.com, electronic and print news services, and publishing arm, EWTN is the largest religious media network in the world.