Eight new awards for Faith Today

Celebrate awards given to our writers by the Canadian Christian Communicators Awards and The Word Awards.

The team of writers, editors and podcasters at Faith Today are celebrating eight first-place awards from an annual contest held by the Canadian Christian Communicators Association. The full list, announced this weekend, is at their website. UPDATE: In Sept. 2023 we found out Faith Today articles won nine more awards. Details added to the bottom of this webpage.

These awards encourage us in our ministry of serving a broad range of Christians across the country. Participating in this contest each year brings us constructive comments from professional judges for each entry (not just the entries that win), and so it is always a great opportunity to reflect on what went well and how we could do even better.

Here are our first-place winners and their categories:

• From the Editor: Let your light shine: Responding constructively to a negative reputation. Authors: Karen Stiller and Bill Fledderus
• Feature Series: Navigating medical assistance in dying, and How MAiD is transforming Canadian end-of-life care. Author: Patricia Paddey
• Opinion Piece: Companionship in grief: How we can bring grace to a bereaved person. Author: Susie Colby*
• Biographical Profile: Recovering the voices of women long silenced: Inside the work of Canadian academic Marion Taylor. Author: Patricia Paddey
• Interview in Print: The FT interview with Kate Bowler, bestselling author of Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved, podcast host and professor at Duke University (who grew up in Winnipeg). Interviewer: Karen Stiller
• Blog Series: Faith Today won based on three posts: How Faith can help with mental illness by Marja Bergen, Artists and other misfits by Marianne Jones, and Why do I need Black History Month? by Renée James
• Podcast Series: Faith Today won based in three episodes: How does clergy sexual abuse keep happening?, How a workplace can be a place to flourish, and The story behind the First Nations Bible Translation. Hosts: Karen Stiller, Ilana Reimer and Bill Fledderus. Producer: David Auyeung
• Socially Conscious Religious Journalism (A.C. Forrest Memorial Award, Circulation Above 10,000): Christians at the convoy: How ordinary Christians ended up at Canada’s noisiest protest and what it reveals about clashing views on freedom. Author: Karen Stiller

Some additional work from Faith Today and our sister magazine Love Is Moving received honorable mentions:

• Editorial - Third Place: Is the Church divided? What Ephesians says about unity and division. Author: David Guretzki
• Feature - Second Place: Building housing and community: The crisis in affordable housing in Canada. Author: Sarah Robinson
• Biblical Theological Reflection - Second Place: Open heavens: The blessings and challenges of multiethnic churches. Author: Andrea Nwabuike in Love Is Moving
• Headline - Third Place: The end. Is there too much fun at funerals? A look at how we say goodbye to those we love. Authors and Editors: Tim Perry, Karen Stiller and Bill Fledderus. Designer: Janice Van Eck
• Poetry - Second Place: Magdalene remembers. Author: David Lyle Jeffrey
• Audio or Video Interview - Second Place: Carla Funk shows how to write your own life story. Host: Karen Stiller. Co-Host: Bill Fledderus. Producer: David Auyeung
• General Excellence – Magazine - Second Place: Faith Today (based on May/Jun, Jul/Aug and Sep/Oct 2022). Editors: Karen Stiller and Bill Fledderus. Art Director: Janice Van Eck

One of the more prestigious awards each year is the A.C. Forrest Memorial Award. So extra kudos to Karen Stiller for her convoy feature.

It's also very encouraging to see our podcasts and blogs being honoured, since so many people mainly know us for our print magazine.

All of those involved feel privileged to be able to serve God and the Christian community in Canada with our communications work, and we thank God for His sustaining grace and equipping each day.

Update: Faith Today writers win 9, shortlisted for 18 awards from The Word Guild

The Word Awards were held Sept. 16 this year. Here's all the Faith Today-related wins from 2022 announced by The Word Guild, a Canadian association of Christians in writing and publishing.

• David Guretzki, "Is the Church divided? What Ephesians says about unity and division" (Column Single)
• Patricia Paddey, "Recovering the voices of women long silenced: Inside the work of Canadian academic Marion Taylor" (Profile/Human Interest)
• Karen Stiller, "Christians at the convoy: How ordinary Christians ended up at Canada’s noisiest protest and what it reveals about clashing views on freedom" (Personal Experience)
• Rachel Baarda, "Walk about Zion: What the Jerusalem ramparts walk taught me about the Eternal City" (Blog Single)
• Bruce Clemenger, "The Gathering Place series including The priority for health care and Advocating for human dignity" (Column Series Christian Market)

Three Faith Today writers also won awards for books, and so we also celebrate that (even though we had no hand in making those books):

• Bruce J. Clemenger, The New Orthodoxy: Canada's Emerging Civil Religion from Castle Quay Books (both Academic Book and Apologetics & Biblical Studies Book)
• Rod Wilson, Thank You. I'm Sorry. Tell Me More. How to Change the World with 3 Sacred Sayings from NavPress (Instructional Book)
• Jen Pollock Michel, In Good Time: 8 Habits for Reimagining Productivity, Resisting Hurry, and Practicing Peace from Baker Academic (Best Book, Non-Fiction)

Here's our other work that made their awards shortlist.

• David Guretzki, "Is the Church divided? What Ephesians says about unity and division" (also shortlisted for Debra Fieguth Social Justice Award)
• Tim Perry, "Living in two worlds: The hope of the gospel at Christmas" (Devotional/Inspirational)
• Patricia Paddey, "How MAiD is transforming Canadian end-of-life care: And what we ought to do about it" (Long Feature) and "Recovering the voices of women long silenced: Inside the work of Canadian academic Marion Taylor" (also shortlisted for Debra Fieguth Social Justice Award)
• Karen Stiller, "Christians at the convoy: How ordinary Christians ended up at Canada’s noisiest protest and what it reveals about clashing views on freedom" (also shortlisted for Debra Fieguth Social Justice Award)
• Rod Wilson, "A human Christian response to depression: Avoiding secular and spiritual missteps" (Personal Experience)
• Susie Colby, "Companionship in grief: How we can bring grace to a bereaved person" (Long Feature General Market, Harvey/Mackey Journalism Award)
• Bruce Clemenger, "The Gathering Place series including The priority for health care and Advocating for human dignity" (Column Series General Market, Debra Fieguth Social Justice Award)

*In the CCCA awards, the article “Companionship in grief” was actually tied for first with “Eyes to see the abundance of reality” by Finney Premkumar, published in our sister magazine Love Is Moving.