El Mensajero Católico recently received nine awards from the Catholic Press Association for work published during 2014.
The CPA, which represents more than 600 Catholic publications in the United States and Canada, presented the awards during its annual convention in Buffalo June 24-26.
* Individual Excellence — Writer: Staff Writer Annette Jiménez won first place for a body of work published in 2014.
"Annette Jimenez hace un trabajo formidable como reportera. Tiene una conexión con su comunidad y entiende como encontrar gente para contar una historia, no simplemente un reporte," one of the judges said.
"Ms. Jiménez’s body of work is impressive. She has a keen understanding of the issues at hand, and a clear way of delivering the facts in her ‘straight news, reporting," according to another judge.
* Best Newspaper Website: El Mensajero’s Spanish-language website, http://es.elmensajerorochester.com, took first place in this category.
"Extremely thorough coverage of issue," the judges wrote. "’Comunidad y Fe’ section is especially good."
* Best Online Presentation of Multi-Media Visuals: Photo Editor Mike Crupi won first place in this category for his video of a healing Mass at Rochester’s St. Frances Xavier Cabrini Parish.
"Well-produced effort, followed the preferred time guidelines for online video," the judges said.
* General Excellence: El Mensajero won second place in this category.
"El Mensajero es interesante," one judge noted. "En comparación a las otras publicaciones tiene menos información sobre la iglesia y más información y noticias sobre problemas y eventos que afectan la comunidad Latina. Los artículos demuestran una intensa interés en su ambiente. La redacción es profesional en cada edición. Están funcionando con muy equipo más pequeños que otras publicaciones con resultados impactantes."
"I particularly enjoyed the emphasis on health coverage in the issues I reviewed," another judge wrote. "The newspaper’s staff makes a good job of providing a religious undertone to stories related to the Hispanic community. My only recommendation would be to pay more attention to headlines. Some of them had verb tense discrepancies, and ended up taking away from the crisp writing in the stories."
* Best News Writing — Local/Regional Event: Jiménez took second place for her June 2014 article on the City Scholars initiative to give more Rochester students the opportunity to attend college.
"It is difficult to deal with so much data, but the writer does a great job in keeping the story alive and interesting," the judges said.
* Best Feature Story: Jiménez received a second-place award for her May 2014 story on the Generation Two program at Rochester’s Henry Longfellow School No. 36.
"En este año de pésimas relaciones entre comunidades y policía, me gusta leer una noticia positiva en donde la policía esta haciendo el esfuerzo para penetrar una comunidad y entender mejor a los niños que pertenecen a esa comunidad. Es sumamente importante," the judges said.
* Best In-Depth Analysis: Jiménez’s October 2014 article on a resurgence in Latino arts received a second-place award.
"Este artículo demuestra el conocimiento que Annette tiene de su comunidad, pero en este caso no creo que El Mensajero ha llevado a cabo una investigacíon profunda sobre un tema que lo necesita," the judges said.
* Best Personality Profile: Jiménez received a third-place award for her February 2014 profile of Rochesterian Ángel Luis Martínez, a Puerto Rican native who is deaf and mute.
"Extraordinary profile, and particularly difficult given the circumstances," the judges wrote. "The piece brings the story to life without resorting to clichés."
* Best Multiple Picture Package Originating with a Newspaper — Feature Package: Former New Media Coordinator Sam Oldenburg won third place for his photos of Rochester Hispanic Youth Baseball League’s opening day.
"Nice kid photos. Very candid and interesting," the judges said.
