The Georgia Bulletin was honored with five awards at the 2012 Catholic Media Convention held June 20-22. The convention drew members of the Catholic Press Association and the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals to Indianapolis for the annual event.

Helen Osman, secretary for communications at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and a former diocesan communications director and newspaper editor, received the Catholic Press Association’s 2012 St. Francis de Sales Award.

The award, known as the Franny, is the highest award the CPA presents to an individual for “outstanding contributions to Catholic journalism.”

The England award is named for the Irish-born bishop of Charleston, S.C. Presented annually, the award recognizes publishers in the Catholic press for the defense of First Amendment rights, such as freedom of the press and freedom of religion. It is the CPA’s highest award for publishers.

The Gabriel Awards, given by the Catholic Academy of Communication Arts Professionals, were also presented at the convention, and included Greg and Jennifer Willits, who won an award for “Mass Confusion,” a television show they developed for CatholicTV of the Archdiocese of Boston. The Willits, who host a daily radio show, “The Catholics Next Door,” for Sirius XM Radio, are based in Conyers.

This year’s Clarion Award from the Catholic Academy for Communications Arts Professionals was presented to Father Robert Barron, who will become rector and president of the University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Illinois July 1.

Father Barron received the award for his 10-part video series called “Catholicism.” Filmed in high-definition, the series spans more than 50 locations in 15 countries. At the time of the series’ release, Father Barron said the goal of “Catholicism” was to evangelize the culture. He said he developed the series to reach people outside of the Catholic Church including fallen-away Catholics, secularists, non-Catholics and disinterested Catholics.

At The Georgia Bulletin, columnist David A. King, Ph.D., won a second-place award for best regular column – culture, the arts and leisure for his monthly columns on Catholic writers and artists of the 20th century. His columns cover the work and lives of 20th-century Catholic writers, filmmakers and artists. King is associate professor of English and film studies at Kennesaw State University and an adjunct faculty member at Spring Hill College, where he teaches courses in Christianity and film and Flannery O’Connor.

Michael Alexander, Andrew Nelson and Stephen O’Kane of the Georgia Bulletin staff won a third-place award for best coverage of a routine sacramental event with stories and photos on the permanent diaconate ordination,  “New Deacons Humbled As They Begin Ministry,” published in the Feb. 17, 2011, issue.

Michael Alexander, Georgia Bulletin staff photographer, earned an honorable mention for best sports journalism – sports news for his story on “St. Mary’s Welcomes Montana’s ‘Fighting Saints,’” in the Jan. 6, 2011, issue. In the story, Alexander described a winning visit by members of the tiny Carroll College football team with the students at St. Mary School, Rome.

The other two awards presented to The Georgia Bulletin were honorable mentions for two special issues: “Easter 2011” (April 28, 2011) for best seasonal issue and “Remembering Archbishop John F. Donoghue 1928-2011” (Nov. 24, 2011) for best one-time special issue.

While The Georgia Bulletin competes in the 40,000 and above circulation category as one of the nation’s larger newspapers, this year all of the awards the staff won were in national competition categories, competing against all sizes and categories of newspapers.