Several ACPA awards go to New Zealand publications

New Zealand’s Catholic media took several awards at the recent Australasian Catholic Press Association (ACPA) Annual Conference held in Hobart, Australia, 1-3 September.

National Magazine Tui Motu InterIslands won three awards –the Bishop Philip Kennedy Memorial Prize for Magazines; the Best Example of Education Coverage for a piece called “Charles Darwin’s Jubilee Year”, and Best Original Artwork for “The Midnight Visitors” (December 2009).

The Best News Story category was won by Wel-com, the publication of the dioceses of Wellington and Palmerston North. The winning story was called “Marae reintegration programme at risk”, from the December 2009 issue of Wel-com.

NZ Catholic, the newspaper of the Auckland diocese, shared the award for the Best Editorial category for “Church must be humble to face failings”. The newspaper also received a special mention for being a “top package of news” and having the best letters section of all entries.

The Nathaniel Report – the publication of the national Catholic bioethics centre – received a Highly Commended award for an article called “The Gardasil Vaccine: Is it safe and effective”.

More than 70 delegates attended the ACPA Awards, which invite more than 100 member publications to submit entries to be judged by professional secular media representatives as the best in their field.