CC wins 9 awards of excellence for coverage during COVID
The Canadian Christian Communicators Association (CCCA) hosted its annual Awards Ceremony April 7 honouring excellence in writing, graphic design and online media during 2020. Christian Courier received nine awards for written content, photography, original artwork, and public engagement.
The Awards Ceremony was hosted over Zoom and streamed over the association’s Facebook page. CC Editor Angela Reitsma Bick and Assistant Editor Meghan Kort participated in the Zoom call alongside other editors and judges. CCCA President John Longhurst began by highlighting the challenges facing communicators who have been working through this time of COVID-19.
“Everyone involved in communications during the pandemic is a winner just for hanging in there day after day, week after week, month after month,” he said, “producing content for magazines, newsletters, podcasts, social media posts – whatever else was needed to keep organizations and denominations and publications going.”
There are more than 30 categories of awards presented for work published in the previous year, each independently judged. Reitsma Bick congratulates all the winners and is happy to again have CC contributors recognized for their talent.
“Everything – from finding photographs to finding time and focus to write – has been harder than usual. I’m very thankful for CC’s amazing team of writers and staff, who have stepped up to help each other and worked hard to keep producing high-quality content during COVID.”
And it wasn’t only the pandemic – CC writers Roland DeVries and Lloyd Rang were recognized for their reflections on abuse and racism respectively. If you scan the list of award-winning content from other publications, it’s easy to see how many big issues dominated the headlines in 2020.
As the ceremony was nearing an end, Bob Bettson congratulated all the winners, noting that his first time attending the awards was in Toronto in the early 1980s.
“I’m very impressed with the improvement in quality in all the publications since then,” he said. “The use of photography, design, the writing quality – it’s gone up exponentially.”
Formerly the Canadian Church Press (CCP), the CCCA is the only association dedicated to Christian communications experts across Canada. The awards ceremony honours ministry organizations and individual Christians for excellent use of communications tools and technologies. CCCA also offers networking and professional development opportunities to its members.
CC received awards for the following:
First Place Awards
• Features (nonfiction, newspaper): After the Abuse by Roland De Vries
• Column (newspaper) to Lloyd Rang for his articles: A Tale of Two Runners, The Upside of COVID-19 and The Great Frost of 2020
Second Place Awards
• Editorial (newspaper): The Dog I Didn’t Know We Needed by Angela Reitsma Bick
• News Photo (newspaper): We Will Be Back, photographer: Mark Scandrette
• Feature Photo (newspaper): I am not a Counsellor by Maaike VanderMeer
• Original Artwork: Maggie’s Flowers by Caitlin Ambery
• Marketing Campaign: “Wings of Grace” Team: Jennifer Neutel, Meghan Kort and Angela Reitsma Bick, Graphic Design: Kevin Tamming, Naomi Francois
Other Awards
• A.C. Forrest Memorial Award: (Circulation Under 10,000, Honourable Mention) When Women Lead by Meghan Kort
• From the Editor: (Third Place) An Other Perspective by Angela Reitsma Bick
