wfn.org | Episcopalians: Episcopal publications receive top awards from Associated Church Press

[dmack@episcopalchurch.org]

April 13, 2002

2002-092

Episcopalians: Episcopal publications receive top awards from 
Associated Church Press

by James Solheim

(ENS) Episcopal publications received many of the top awards 
from the Associated Church Press at the annual meeting at a 
Baptist retreat center near Birmingham, Alabama, April 7-10.

Episcopal Life received a total of 11 awards, 
including the top award "best in class" in the category for 
national and international newspapers. Also receiving first 
place awards were the Witness magazine, the Episcopal 
New Yorker, and Hi-Lites, a newsletter for St. 
Francis Academy in Salina, Kansas.

Anglican Advance (Diocese of Chicago) and Episcopal 
News Service received second place awards for "best in class."

The other awards for Episcopal Life included Awards of 
Excellence (first place) for front page, and humor for a cartoon 
and Awards of Merit (second place) theme issue, 
devotional/inspirational article, newspaper graphics and several 
honorable mentions.

In addition to its award as the top newsletter, 
Hi-Lites received Awards of Excellence in the categories 
for departments, graphics and a theme issue, as well as Awards 
of Merit for a news story, in-depth coverage and a column.

The Witness magazine received an Award of Excellence 
for a cover, Awards of Merit for its critical review section and 
for a feature article.

In addition to placing first as a regional newspaper, the 
Episcopal New Yorker (Diocese of New York) received an 
Award of Excellence for an interview and several honorable 
mentions. The Central Florida Episcopalian and 
Cathedral Age (Washington National Cathedral) received 
Awards of Excellence for photography. Anglican Advance 
was given an Award of Excellence for a column and ENS received 
an Award of Excellence for a news story.

The Anglican Journal of Canada received an Award of 
Merit in the category for departments.

The contest drew 1,207 entries from 87 publications in the 
ACP, an 86-year-old professional association of 175 members with 
a combined circulation of over 28 million. (Complete results 
available at http://www.theacp.org/2001%20Award%20Results.htm)

First amendment doomed?

In his provocative keynote on "The Religious Press in the 
Public Square," Charles Overby, chairman of the Freedom 
Foundation, said that the First Amendment of the Constitution 
"is in trouble--and that means you are in trouble."

He called the First Amendment "a very fragile document--and 
there is nothing like it anywhere else in the world." Yet he 
said that "it will not survive this century unless the public is 
educated." Recent polls done for the Freedom Foundation, an 
independent foundation dedicated to the First Amendment and 
media issues, reveal that many Americans are objecting to what 
they perceive as "unbridled freedoms," expressing a willingness 
to give up some basic freedoms for more security. For example, 
almost 40 percent say that the First Amendment goes too 
far--double the percentage of the previous year. 

"We have our work cut out for us," Overby said when 46 
percent of Americans think that the press has too much freedom. 
"That should be sobering to all journalists." He said that 
America is the most religiously diverse nation of earth with 
over 3,000 recognized religious groups. "Yet many insist that we 
are a Christian nation."

He said that the Freedom Forum is convinced that it is 
important to teach about religion and its role in the life of 
the nation but is opposed to prayer in public schools or posting 
the Ten Commandments in government buildings, regarding them as 
attempts to "secularize" religion. "We don't need our government 
to tell us what to do in the realm of religion," he said. He 
challenged the church communicators to be more diligent in 
exploring the issues, using their considerable influence in more 
effective ways. "Your job is more important than it has been 
beforeeven though it is being minimized by many religious 
leaders," he added. Too often those leaders are "confused about 
the issues--they need more light and less heat."

An American sicknessThe struggle for civil rights in 
Birmingham was addressed by several speakers at the convention. 
"Most people remember Bombingham--Bull Conner and firehouses, 
dogs attacking kids. And that's part of our history," said Bob 
Terry, president of the ACP in his introduction for Dr. Odessa 
Woolfolk, a veteran of the civil rights struggle and a founder 
of the Civil Rights Institute in downtown Birmingham.

"Alabama is a much better place than most people think," she 
said in arguing that the story in Birmingham has its own set of 
villains and heroes. The problem was that "good people were 
silent and bad people took over" yet she said that Birmingham 
was "a city of perpetual promise," a city where "race has always 
been an issue." As long as blacks stayed in their place, there 
was no problem, she noted. 

In his famous Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther 
King, Jr. talked about how slow the churches were to respond to 
the situation. Many local clergy were opposed to his non-violent 
approach to change.

Today, Woolfolk said, there is "more interracial dialogue 
than just about anywhere else in America.  We are willing to 
talk about racial justice and how we can live together. 
Birmingham is like the rest of America now, trying to wrestle 
with the same issues," she said. Although the situation has 
changed for the better, "racial inequality is still an American 
sickness."

------

--James Solheim is director of Episcopal News Service.