BUFFALO, New York — The Milwaukee Catholic Press Apostolate received several awards at the June 24-26 Catholic Media Conference in Buffalo, New York.

The Milwaukee Catholic Herald was awarded second place in the “best regular supplement on a local ordinary’s Managing Editor Maryangela Román and reporter Ricardo Torres hold their first and second place awards. Román won the Fr. Michael J. McGivney Award for Distinguished Journalism and first place for outstanding world mission news coverage. Torres won second place for best analysis/background/round-up news writing. The Catholic Herald staff won second place for best regular supplement on a local ordinary’s transition. (Photo by Tracy Rusch)transition” category for its “Love Never Fails: With Gratitude to Bishop Donald J. Hying” published Dec. 25, 2014.
Judges described the supplement as “a well-designed and well-planned entry, from the sharp, fresh cover to the reader contributions toward the back. Simple, elegant presentation of content, with some nice touches – the recipe, the sermon quotations, etc. A close second in a very competitive category. Nice work.”

Catholic Herald reporter Ricardo Torres also earned a second place award in the “best analysis/background/round-up news writing” for his two-part series, “Immigration Frustration,” (Catholic Herald, Dec. 11 and Dec. 17, 2014) detailing the struggles with the immigration system that several archdiocesan priests have experienced.

Judges described the entry as having, “very strong writing and reporting that takes a news development – the visa issues of priests in the archdiocese – to a new level. Writing is clear and strong. The readers comes away informed and with a new appreciation for what immigrants of all kinds must go through.”

The Madison Catholic Herald and Erik Peterson, Catholic Herald creative director, received second place in the best redesign category.

“Particularly impressive because the redesign is the result of the work of staff members who are already working very hard. The paper does look so much better…. Nice work,” wrote the judges.

Also at the convention, Catholic Herald managing editor Maryangela Layman Román received two first place awards.

The Society of the Propagation of the Faith presented her with a first place “Archbishop Edward T. O’Meara Award, interview with missionaries” for outstanding world mission news coverage in a diocesan/archdiocesan newspaper for her piece on Sister of St. Francis of Assisi Irene Kundinger, “Missionary found second home in Taiwan, (Catholic Herald, July 25, 2014).

She also received the Father Michael J. McGivney Award for Distinguished Journalism for “It’s hard to say no to top SVdP fundraiser,” for her piece on Leona Katorski, (Catholic Herald, Dec. 1, 2014).