wfn.org | Jacques Fortier is the European Religion Writer of the Year

["Ruth Gill" <rag@cec-kek.org>]

Conference of European Churches - Office of Communications
Press release No. 04-27/ef		10 June 2004 

Jacques Fortier, from "Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace" is the European Religion
Writer of the Year

Mr Jacques Fortier, religion writer for the Strasbourg based daily newspaper
"Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace" (France), has been named the winner of the
2003 John Templeton award for the "European Religion Writer of the Year". 

The announcement of the award, which is valued at 5,000 Swiss Francs, was
made today in Geneva, Switzerland, by the Office of Communication of the
Conference of European Churches (CEC), which administers the award on behalf
of the USA based "John Templeton Foundation". 

The prize will be presented on Tuesday 29 June at 7 p.m. in Strasbourg, at
the CEC Church and Society Commission office at 8, rue du Foss* des Treize.  

The aim of the award is to honour journalists who write about religion in the
secular press with accuracy, impartiality and with an ecumenical spirit. 

Mr Fortier is the third prize winner from a French language publication,
after Alain Dupraz, "La Tribune de Geneve", Switzerland, 1999 award; and
Henri Tincq "Le Monde", Paris, 2001 award. The winner of the 2002 award was
Agneta Lagercrantz from the Swedish paper "Svenska Dagbladet". 

Jacques Fortier, aged 48, has been writing religion news for "Dernieres
Nouvelles d'Alsace" since 1993. He started his career in 1979 as a daily
press journalist and from 1983 to 1990 worked for the French radio. 

"Dernieres Nouvelles d'Alsace", founded in 1877, has a print run of 220,000
copies with 26 local editions, covering the whole of Alsace, a French region
bordering Germany. As the region has a bilingual tradition, many of the local
editions include articles in German as well as French. "Dernieres Nouvelles
d'Alsace" has 900 employees, of whom 200 are professional journalists, and a
network of 2,000 local correspondents. Religious information represents an
important part of the newspaper, due to the particular situation of Alsace
(an exception in France), where 4 religions are officially recognised by the
State:	Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed and Jews. 

Mr Fortier's entry for the Templeton prize included an article on the
tensions between the Russian Orthodox Church and Roman Catholics; a feature
story on a local museum dedicated to Jean-Frederic Oberlin (1740-1826) , a
well-known Alsatian pastor who was also a pedagogist, an agronomist, a
botanist, an artist and a philosopher; and a short story on Saint Nicholas. 

"The story on the 'new cold war' between Russian Orthodox and Roman
Catholics", said one of the judges, "is accurate and balanced. This is
particularly important for a mainly Catholic audience, who often get only one
side of the story". "The strength of Jacques Fortier's submission", said
another judge, "lies in the breadth of subject-matter he addresses, together
with his repertoire of skill in interpreting the intricacies of religion to
particular audiences. He is able to tell children the story of Saint Nicholas
with a clarity of narrative that equals his talent for explaining ecumenical
tensions to an adult audience, or introducing a museum of church history in
the context of a weekly magazine feature. He adapts his tone and genre for
the sake of his readership, while maintaining consistently high standards of
objectivity and accuracy".

* * * *

The Conference of European Churches (CEC) is a fellowship of some 125
Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic Churches from all countries
of Europe, plus 40 associated organisations. CEC was founded in 1959. It has
offices in Geneva, Brussels and Strasbourg.

For information:
Office of Communications
Conference of European Churches
Phone +41 22 791 64 85 or 791 63 25
Fax +41 22 791 62 27
e-mail: Luca.Negro@cec-kek.org
Website: http://www.cec-kek.org