Texas Catholic Herald earns six international media awards for design, reporting, photography

(Photo by James Ramos/Herald)

ATLANTA — The Texas Catholic Herald took one first-place award and six Catholic Media Awards overall at the 2024 Catholic Media Conference, which took place June 18 to 21 at the Marriott Buckhead Hotel in Atlanta.

The conference, sponsored by the Catholic Media Association (CMA), is a chance for Catholic communications professionals, journalists, public relations experts, videographers and digital media specialists to showcase their work.

A photograph by James Ramos won first place in the “priesthood, religious life or diaconate” photography category, which featured Deacon Carlos Hernandez of St. Faustina Parish in Fulshear kiss his stole that was handed to him by Deacon Rey Croson, also of St. Faustina, during a Mass of Ordination to the Permanent Diaconate at the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in 2023.

Judges said the photo had “excellent composition capturing emotion.”

The 2022 Archdiocesan annual report earned a second-place award, with judges describing the publication as “nicely organized, easy to follow and a good read.”

A series of stories by Ramos, Rebecca Torrellas and Jo Ann Zuñiga that reported on the priesthood, religious life and the diaconate won a third-place award, with judges noting that the coverage was a “combination of well-written and illustrated articles [that] provide guidance for all.”

Also, other photography by Ramos earned a pair of second-place awards and third-place recognition for coverage of Easter celebrations in the Archdiocese, World Youth Day in Lisbon and Catholic students celebrating Go Texan Day.

Judges said the photos featured “nice candid, evocative portraits of those involved.”

The CMA awards program allows Catholic journalists, authors, publishers and media professionals to showcase their work from the previous year among their peers in the U.S. and Canada.