The A.D. Times, newspaper of the Diocese of Allentown, received three awards in the Catholic Press Association (CPA) 2016 Catholic Press Awards, announced June 23.
Third place for Best Multiple Picture Sports Package was awarded for “Bethlehem Catholic community watches one of its own earn silver” by Photographer Ed Koskey, Editor Jill Caravan and Design Editor Marcus Schneck, in the Sept. 1, 2016 issue.
The package showed a community viewing event to support Bethlehem Catholic High School graduate Joe Kovacs as he competed in shot put in the Olympics and earned a silver medal.
Third place for Best Coverage of Mother Teresa’s Canonization was awarded for several precanonization articles in the Jan. 7 and Aug. 11, 2016 issues, and coverage of the local celebration of the canonization at St. Teresa of Calcutta Church, Mahanoy City in the Sept. 22, 2016 issue.
Contributing to the coverage were Staff Writer Tara Connolly, Photographer John Simitz, Design Editor Marcus Schneck and Editor Jill Caravan.
Honorable mention for Best Editorial on a Local Issue was awarded for “Angels in education” by Father Bernard Ezaki in the Jan. 21, 2016 issue.
In the article to highlight Catholic Schools Week, Father Ezaki recalled his childhood memories of a set of rubber angel stamps that sisters would use to grade his schoolwork.
At the time of publication Father Ezaki was assistant pastor of the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena, Allentown, where he went to elementary school. Since Oct. 4, 2016 he has been assistant pastor of St. Jane Frances de Chantal, Easton.
The A.D. Times competed against other nonweekly diocesan newspapers in the United States and Canada with circulation of 25,001 and higher.
This brings to 33 the number of CPA awards for The A.D. Times in its 28 years of publication, in reporting, news writing, feature writing, editorial writing, sports writing, news coverage, front page content and design, graphic design, and photography.
An office of the diocesan Secretariat for External Affairs, The A.D. Times is published 22 times a year. It is distributed by mail and email to more than 52,000 Catholic families in the five-county diocese, and posted on the diocesan website.
