OSV News photo/Bob Roller

ATLANTA—At the 2024 Catholic Media Conference, the staff of The Georgia Bulletin received nine Catholic Media Awards. The conference was June 18-21 with the theme of “Connect in ATL.”

The Georgia Bulletin earned Catholic Media Awards for stories, columns, advertising and its website. The award presentations are an annual program of the Catholic Media Association. The program accepts work completed by the association’s members in the United States and Canada from the previous year. The awards presented to The Georgia Bulletin were:

• First Place for Best Coverage of Catholic Schools for Staff Writer Andrew Nelson. This award was for a submission of three stories in which Nelson highlighted the support of the Msgr. Donovan High School community for two students with cancer; a new state of the art STREAM lab at St. Mary’s School in Rome and creation of a mural by Cristo Rey Atlanta Jesuit High School students. “All wonderfully complete stories with sparkling photos,” wrote the judges about the pieces.
• Second Place for Best Website—Newspaper for the staff of The Georgia Bulletin. This award is an All Member Award.
• Second Place in the category of Best Promotional House advertisement for a Georgia Bulletin Pilgrimages ad by Graphic Designer Tom Schulte and Advertising Manager Tom Aisthorpe.
• Third place in the Best Print Special Supplement category for the Feb. 2, 2023, issue on the ordination of Bishop John Tran.
• Third place for Best Reporting of Social Justice Issues for Andrew Nelson’s “Food truck ministry serves hot meals and hope.” Judges wrote, “This story is interesting as it capitalizes on the food truck phenomenon and it is written in an engaging style … It’s great that the article includes a call to action for readers to become personally involved.”
• Third Place for Best Regular Column (Culture, the Arts and Leisure) for Dr. David King’s “Culture and the Church” series.
• Honorable Mention for Best Reporting on the Celebration of a Sacrament for Andrew Nelson’s “Local men answer the call: Four new priests ordained.”
• Honorable Mention for Best Regular Column by a bishop or archbishop for “Be merciful with a cheerful heart” by Bishop Joel M. Konzen, SM.
• Honorable Mention in the Hot Topic for Eucharistic Revival category for coverage of Rescue Atlanta, and columns from the Eucharistic Revival series.

Auxiliary Bishop Robert P. Reed of Boston shared a reflection on the role of Catholic communications professionals as part of his June 19 keynote address at the conference.

Catholic communications is more than “delivering a message,” but rather “journeying alongside people in faith,” said Bishop Reed, who serves as chair of the U.S. Catholic bishops’ communications committee. The bishop is also president of the Archdiocese of Boston’s CatholicTV Network.

Auxiliary Bishop Robert P. Reed of Boston, chair of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Communications, gives the keynote address June 19, during the Catholic Media Conference in Atlanta. OSV News photo/Bob Roller

Even more important than mutual professional interests and collaboration is the spiritual bond that unites Catholic communicators, he noted.

“Our baptism, our common faith, our discipleship, bid us to be connected with the Lord Jesus, whose mission we share,” said Bishop Reed.

The bishop pointed to the words of Pope Francis, who in his message for the 58th World Day of Social Communications said, “Information cannot be separated from living relationships.”

The pope “would want us to do our communication work in a way that fosters compassion and connection,” said Bishop Reed. “We don’t just transfer data.”

“The commission of Jesus to communicate the Good News, to evangelize the world from the individual, the family, and the parish all the way up is a task not to be taken lightly and not to be done alone,” he said. “So we need each other’s support.”