2017 Excellence in Religion Reporting Awards


Cassels Award for Excellence in Religion Reporting at Small-Sized Newspapers

First Place: Marshall Weiss, The Dayton Jewish Observer
Second Place: Catherine Godbey, The Decatur Daily
Third Place: Britta Lokting, The Forward

Cornell Award for Excellence in Religion Reporting at Mid-Sized Newspapers

First Place: Peggy Fletcher Stack, The Salt Lake Tribune
Second Place: Steve Rabey for work at the Colorado Springs Gazette
Third Place: Douglas Todd, The Vancouver Sun/Province

Excellence in Religion Reporting at Metropolitan Newspapers

Mark Mueller, The Star Ledger

Excellence in Religion Reporting at Large Newspapers & Wire Services

First Place: Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post
Second Place: Julie Zauzmer, The Washington Post
Third Place (tie): Laurie Goodstein, The New York Times
Third Place (tie): Lauren Markoe, Religion News Service
Honorable Mention: Kimberly Winston, Religion News Service

Supple Award for Excellence in Religion Feature Writing

First Place: Lisa Wangsness, The Boston Globe
Second Place: Emma Green, The Atlantic
Third Place: Rachel Zoll, Associated Press

Gerald A. Renner Award for Excellence in Enterprise Religion Reporting

First Place: Elizabeth Dias, TIME
Second Place: Emma Green, The Atlantic
Third Place: Ariel Sabar, The Atlantic
Honorable Mention: David Gibson, Religion News Service

Excellence in Religion Commentary

First Place: Douglass Todd, Vancouver Sun/Providence
Second Place: Sandi Villarreal, Sojourners
Third Place: Gershom Gorenberg, Moment Magazine

Excellence in Religion News Analysis

First Place: Emma Green, The Atlantic
Second Place: Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post
Third Place: Katherine Ozment, Talking Points Memo
Honorable Mention: Mohamad Bazzi, Reuters

Excellence in Short Religion Video

JP Keenan, Sojourners

Excellence in Online Religion Section

Daniel Burke, CNN

Excellence in Photography: Single Image

First Place: Nathaniel Guidry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Second Place: Dina Rudick, The Boston Globe

Excellence in Photography: Gallery

First Place: Alexandra Radu for work done at Religion News Service
Second Place: Dina Rudick, The Boston Globe

Excellence in Magazine News Religion Reporting

First Place: Jeremy Weber, Christianity Today
Second Place: Emma Green, The Atlantic
Third Place: Elizabeth Dias, TIME

Excellence in Magazine Overall Religion Coverage

First Place: Jeremy Weber, Katelyn Beaty, Alecia Sharp and Sarah Gordon, Christianity Today
Second Place: Sarah Breger, Moment Magazine

Excellence in Television News Magazine Religion Reporting

First Place: “The Harmony Project” by CBS Sunday Morning (Jane Pauley, Dustin Stephens, Lauren Barnello and Carol A. Ross)
Second Place: “One Extraordinary Church” by Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly (Lucky Severson and Noelle Serper)
Third Place: “The Amish Grace” by Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly (David Tereshchuk)
Honorable Mention: “Religion, Art, Cultural Heritage” by CBS Religion & Culture (Liz Kineke, Natalie Baxter and Elyse Kaftan)

Excellence in Television Local News Religion Reporting

Jeff Abell, Cory Sellgren and Christine Lien, WBFF-TV

Excellence in Television National Network/Cable News Religion Reporting

Anna Werner, Wendy Krantz and Dina Zingaro, CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley

Excellence in Religion Documentary

“Beauty of Their Dreams” by Diva Communications, Inc.

Excellence in Radio or Podcast Religion Reporting

First Place: Judy Silber, Jen Chien, Ben Tefny and Chris Hoff, KALW’s The Spiritual Edge
Second Place: Maureen Fiedler, Laurea Kwerel, Ruth Morris and Abigail Holtzman, Interfaith Voices
Third Place: Kristen Foden-Vencil, Oregon Public Radio
Honorable Mention: Dan Pashman, WNYC’s Sporkful

Excellence for Nonfiction Religion Book

First Place: Katherine Ozment, “Grace Without God: The Search for Meaning, Purpose, and Belonging in a Secular Age”
Second Place: Thomas Krattenmaker, “Confessions of a Secular Jesus Follower: Finding Answers in Jesus for Those Who Don’t Believe”
Third Place: Julie Byrne, “The Other Catholics”