The first weeks of May are a season of awards for Christian periodicals in North America. This year ChristianWeek entered contests in three different associations, and walked away with something in each of them.

At the top of our list is the Award of Excellence bestowed by the Evangelical Press Association at a ceremony in Minneapolis. The judge called ChristianWeek "one of the finest Christian newspapers I have seen in both appearance and content." This was particularly gratifying as the contest involves periodicals from across North America, the first time we put our paper head-to-head against newspapers outside Canada.

Meanwhile, back in our own country the Canadian Church Press was holding its convention and awards ceremony.

There we were pleased to receive top honours in the "best treatment of a news event" category. Congratulations to journalist Wendy Elaine Nelles for her hard-hitting series of articles about changes in Pentecostal education. One of the judges remarked on the fact that the journalist had shown fairness to both sides in a controversial story.

The CCP also awarded ChristianWeek an honourable mention in the features category for the special section we did on large churches ("Cathedrals of the new century").

ChristianWeek and ChristianCurrent are charter members of the fledgling Fellowship of Christian Newspapers, which now functions as a subgroup within the Evangelical Press Association. Here again, judges recognized the strength of ChristianWeek’s news coverage, with an article by Carol Lowes ("Jews for Jesus campaign exposes growing tensions") earning top honours.

The judges also awarded a second place certificate in the "personality feature" category for "Hear the music, down in the valley," managing editor Kelly Rempel’s fine piece about Manitoba musician Jon Buller.

And one of Doug Koop’s editorials, "Seven habits of highly defective churches," also earned a second place showing.Links to winning articles:

Controversy surrounds changes at PAOC college

Jews for Jesus campaign exposes growing tensions

Hear the music, down in the valley

Seven habits of highly defective churches