Awards for Faith Today work from 2021

Join us in congratulating writers whose work has been judged excellent.

Update 17 Sept. 2022: Two Faith Today writers won Word Awards today for articles we published.

• first place, column series: Carolyn Arends for “Getting Creative” and “A Hurry-Free Life”
• first place, long feature: Alex Newman for “When Our Pets Die: What does our faith have to say about the grief we feel when our animal companions die?”
• first place, news: Alex Newman for “How We Coped With the Lockdowns: Churches share how they struggled with and survived pandemic restrictions”

Several other Faith Today contributors won for work published elsewhere:

• Marianne Jones won best fiction book (and best specialty book) for her novel Maud and Me (Crossfield Publishing)
• Lynda MacGibbon won best non-fiction book for My Vertical Neighbourhood: How Strangers Became a Community (InterVarsity Press)
• Chrissy Dennis won best young adult book for The Paper Wolf (Anaiah Press)
• Beverley Rayner won Christian children's book for Barclay & Berk Builders: A Parable (Castle Quay Books)
• Carolyn Arends also won best song lyrics award for "Almost Didn't Recognize You."

Additional Faith Today material had previously been named to the Word Awards shortlist:

• shortlisted for column series: David Guretzki: “Subject to Governing Authorities” and “When Public Debate Ignores Right and Wrong”
• shortlisted for single column: both Carolyn Arends for “A No-Secrets Mission” and Bruce Clemenger for “Our Election Posture: Challenging indifference and willful blindness”
• shortlisted for long feature: Evelyn Pedersen for “Bridging the Gap: How one-year programs are equipping young highschool graduates”
• shortlisted for personal experience/personal opinion: Patricia Paddey for “10 Lessons from Fallen Leaders”
• shortlisted for poetry: Mary Willis for “Three Inches Closer to Easter”
• shortlisted for Debra Fieguth social justice award: Bruce Clemenger for “Our Election Posture: Challenging indifference and willful blindness”

[End of update section]

Faith Today won five first-place awards from the Canadian Christian Communicators Association on May 11, 2022.

• first place, news story: How We Coped with the Lockdowns, author: Alex Newman
• first place, column: Witness series. (Three samples judged: Standing in a Long Line by Fawnda Bullshields; The Lessons of my Grandmother by Cristino Bouvette; The Healing Space Between by Crystal Porter)
• first place, biblical/theological reflection: The End of Grace: An Essay on Dying Well, author: the late Dave Jeffrey (same article also won second place in the first-person account category) 
• first place, advertisement: Home is Where the Heart is, designer: Janice Van Eck
• first place, podcast series: Faith Today Podcast, interviewer/host: Karen Stiller. Producer: David Auyeung. (Three samples judged: Mark Noll, Kate Bowler, Fallen Leaders)

Faith Today material also placed in seven other categories:

• second place, general excellence in a print magazine: based on three sample issues (Jan/Feb, Mar/Apr and May/Jun). Editors: Bill Fledderus and Karen Stiller. Designer: Janice Van Eck
• second place, magazine cover, circ. over 10,000: Church Still Matters. Here’s How, designer: Janice Van Eck
• third place, service journalism: Unwrap your Church this Christmas: Tips on Making the most of Seasonal Outreach Opportunities, author: Judy Paulsen
• third place, best headline: Second Hand Shop Full of Second Choices: Sex-Trade Survivor Helps Others, author: Sylvia St. Cyr
• third place, original artwork: Ode to Reading, artist: Jarred Briggs
• third place, audio/video interview: Wisdom from Babylon: A Conversation with Gordon T. Smith, interviewer: Karen Stiller
• honourable mention, video production: What Churches Can and Cannot Do During Elections, producer/director: Joel Gordon

Our team was also awarded two third-place awards and a second place in this year’s Evangelical Press Association awards, the first year we entered this international competition. Awards were announced in Colorado April 11.

• second place, biblical exposition: the late Dave Jeffery for “The End of Grace: An Essay on Dying Well” (faithtoday.ca/endofgrace)
• third, devotional: Kevin Makins’ article “Does Church Still Matter—Even in a Pandemic?” (faithtoday.ca/churchstillmatters)
• third, standing column: “Go With God” by Carolyn Arends (faithtoday.ca/gowithgod).

And even though technically they didn't place, we have to report that the judges also

• gave perfect marks in the devotional category to an essay by Alastair Sterne (faithtoday.ca/pandemicrhythm) and
• almost perfect marks to David Guretzki's columns (faithtoday.ca/crossconnections).

Congratulations to all the winners.

We'll update this blog post in September if there is more good news to report from The Word Awards, another contest our work is eligible for.