Guajardo receives Cardinal John P. Foley Award; North Texas Catholic earns second place nod

Three issues of the North Texas Catholic and a CMA Award Certificate for Juan Guajardo for the Cardinal John P. Foley Award. 

PHOENIX — At the annual Catholic Media Conference held this year on June 24 – 27 in Phoenix, Juan Guajardo was awarded the Cardinal John P. Foley Award for “demonstrated excellence and innovation in Catholic storytelling.” Guajardo serves as the creative services director for the Diocese of Fort Worth, focusing his talents on photography, videography, and production of “Lights, Catholic, Action!”, a podcast launched by the diocese in March 2025.

Named Photographer of the Year in 2024, Guajardo was commended by the judges “as the premier visual storyteller for the diocese, using still images and video to capture the joyous happenings and spirit-filled lives of diocesan faithful.”

Past winners of the Cardinal John P. Foley Award include Fr. Mike Schmitz and Jeff Cavins from Ascension Press; Peter Finney, editor of the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Clarion Herald; and multimedia journalist Chaz Muth for his work with Catholic News Service.

Guajardo also was named Videographer/Video Producer of the Year at the conference. Another significant award was a second-place finish by the North Texas Catholic magazine in the diocesan magazine of the year category.

The North Texas Catholic also received the following awards:

Individual Awards

• Susan Moses, third place, Blessed Michael McGivney Award for distinguished journalism

Magazine Awards

• First place: Best Video – feature
  “New Beginnings: How Two Young Adults Entered the Catholic Church”
  Juan Guajardo and Paul Latino
   
• First Place: Best Reporting on a special age group
  “Preparing for a beautiful death”
  Joan Kurkowski-Gillen
   
• Third Place: Best Reporting on the celebration of a sacrament
  “Living Water: How Baptism changes our identity, family, and purpose”
  Susan Moses
   
• Third place: Best Video – ordination
  “A Divine Calling: Two Men are Ordained to the Sacred Order of Presbyters”
  Juan Guajardo
   
• Honorable Mention: Best Reporting of Social Justice Issues – Option for the Poor and Vulnerable
  “Embracing All of God’s Children”
  Christina Benavides
   
• Honorable Mention: Best Story and Photo Package by two individuals or more
  “Faith in the fields”
  Matthew Smith and Juan Guajardo

Spanish-language Awards

• First Place: Best reporting on cultural heritage
  “Bajo el manto de Guadalupe”; “Jamas dejaste mi lado”
  Violeta Rocha and Christina Benavides
   
• Honorable Mention: Best reporting on the celebration of a sacrament
  “El significado profundo del matrimonio”; “Unidos a Dios”
  Karla Silva and Christina Benavides