North Texas Catholic receives 13 Catholic Media Association awards
An angel looks over the city of Fort Worth. This photo illustration is one of many that accompanied the photo story on angels in the 2023 September/August issue of the NTC that won the 2024 CMA Best Diocesan Magazine award. (NTC/Juan Guajardo)
ATLANTA — Judges for the Catholic Media Association awarded the North Texas Catholic newsmagazine 13 awards, most notably Photographer of the Year to Juan Guajardo and Best Diocesan Magazine for the second year in a row.
Bishop Michael Olson congratulated the publication on X (formerly known as Twitter), saying:
The Catholic Media Association has presented the @NTCatholic for the second year in a row the award for the Best Catholic News Magazine in the U.S. @FWdiocese is proud of editor Susan Moses, @PatSvacina, Juan Guajardo, Christina Benavides, & Rosa Rosales! @USCCB @TXCatholic https://t.co/NBDsMTG6DE
— Bishop Michael Olson (@BpOlsonFW) June 22, 2024
The CMA judges explained the Best Diocesan Magazine, stating:
This magazine was very comprehensive. The variety of the articles and sections was impressive. What stood out most was the artwork and stunning photography. Excellence personified.
Director of Communications Pat Svacina commended Guajardo’s award-winning work ethic as he acknowledged, “Winning the Photographer of the Year Award among all the photographers in the Catholic communication community in the United States represents a great achievement. Juan started out as a freelancer for the diocese, working for the communication department.
“Subsequently, he became an associate editor, an editor, and then created a Creative Services Department and has made that bloom,” Svacina continued. “We now can not only tell our story in the print version, but we can also do it through photography and video in a very, very good way.”
Guajardo stated, “Visuals are important in the world today. Photos and video are important, and they're just a way of sharing truth, beauty, and goodness.
“I love sharing people's stories visually,” he continued. “So that's always been, I think, a calling for me and the diocese has been a home to do it in.”
Regarding the Photographer of the Year award, the CMA judges noted:
Every picture tells a distinct and powerful story and each is packed with emotion that evokes emotion. There’s grief, yearning, gratefulness, joy, reflection, shared happiness, and hopefulness. Technically, the photos are flawless — use of light, depth of field, color, motion, and backgrounds all work together to create a rich tapestry. This photographer is a true documentarian.
The awards were the culmination of the 2024 Catholic Media Conference held in Atlanta, Georgia. The Catholic Media Association, which organized the June 18-21 conference, features members and sponsors from prominent news publications, including EWTN, OSV News, Franciscan Media, as well as 337 other organizations.
Nearly 500 Catholic journalists, communication specialists, and content creators of print and digital media attended the conference for professional development, spiritual faith formation, and celebration of excellence in Catholic media.
2024 CMA Awards for the North Texas Catholic staff include:
Photographer of the Year, Juan Guajardo
First Place Diocesan Magazine of the Year, North Texas Catholic — 2023 Sept/Oct issue
First Place Best Photograph, Eucharistic Revival, Juan Guajardo — Monstrance at St. Peter the Apostle
Second Place Best Regular Column, Walker Price — “Reflections: the ‘Hyper-Reality” of the Passion”
Second Place Best Reporting on Catholic Education, Susan Moses, Rodger Mallison, Kevin Bartram, and Juan Guajardo — “Steeped and Schooled in Faith”
Third Place Best Video, Religious Life, Juan Guajardo — “Consecrated to God”
Third Place Best Video, Ordination, Juan Guajardo — “Three priests ordained for the Diocese of Fort Worth”
Third Place Best Regular Column, Jeff Hedglen — “Center of Attention”
Third Place Best Reporting on a Special Age Group, Joan Kurkowski-Gillen, Juan Guajardo, Carolina Boelter, Kevin Bartram — “Praying Them Home”
Third Place Best Reporting, Violeta Rocha — “Alegria y Agradecimiento a Dios”
Third Place Best Photograph, Catholic education, Juan Guajardo — All Saints Day at St. Peter the Apostle
Honorable Mention Best Reporting of Social Justice Issues, Joan Kurkowski-Gillen — “Memories of Hope”
Honorable Mention Best Photo Story, Susan Moses, Juan Guajardo, Ben Torres — “Alleluia! The story of Easter in the Diocese of Fort Worth”