The Presbyterian Record was named among the best Canadian church magazines of 2015, picking up two dozen awards at the end of April for excellent work done by its editors, writers, art director, designer, columnists, bloggers and freelancers.
The Canadian Church Press awarded the Record third place in the category of General Excellence. That was among 16 awards the Record received from CCP. The Record picked up another eight from the Associated Church Press, the association of North American church publications.
Senior editor Andrew Faiz’s monthly column Pop Christianity received a first at CCP and a third place at ACP. Faiz also received honours from both organizations for interviews (Can We Talk, January, and Beyond Words, February), photography (from Ethiopia and Eastern Europe), and news reporting (with Amy MacLachlan). Faiz’s article on refugees in Eastern Europe (On the Road, October) was named second in the A.C. Forrest Award at CCP “for excellence in socially conscious religious journalism.”
Managing editor Amy Mac-Lachlan, along with sharing a third for news reporting, received a first in service journalism for her article on peanut allergies (It’s About Hospitality, January).
Art Director Caroline Bishop and designer Salina Vanderhorn were named five times by the two associations for excellent work on cover design (July/August), table of contents, photo spread (Green Famine, March) and feature layout (Print is Dead, February).
Rev. Tony Plomp was honoured with a first in the category of theological reflection and a third in the category of personal reflection for an article about his battle with cancer, The Beginning of Life (October) at CCP.
Rev. Bradley Childs picked up three awards: a third for his column The Other Six Days, and two for his opinion piece We All Benefit From Racism (July/August).
Rev. Matthew Ruttan received a second place citation at CCP for his blog featured on pccweb.ca/presbyterianrecord.
Richard Lett, a member at St. Andrew’s, Toronto, received a first at CCP and a third at ACP in humour writing for his article Getting Sober (March).
Blogger Becky Roushorne-Lau received an ACP award of merit for her reflection His Name Was Alan.
Stephen Kennedy, editor of the Pentecostal Testimony magazine, received an ACP first for a poem published in the Record, Afar Feast (March).
The Record is produced monthly by a small team led by editor and publisher David Harris. Along with Faiz, MacLachlan, Bishop and Vanderhorn, Connie Wardle is the senior writer and Deborah Leader the subscriptions manager. Wil McGilvery manages the website.
The Record reported last month that congregations are continuing to cancel their Every Home Plans due to declining offerings. The sharp loss in subscriptions may force the magazine to end its 140 year legacy by 2017. —Record staff
