NEW YORK – The Religion Communicators Council and the Associated Church Press have honored reporting from Haiti by Church World Service staffer Chris Herlinger
Herlinger, a CWS writer and editor, won two awards of excellence in the RCC’s annual DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards competition. The awards were announced March 31 during the RCC’s annual convention, held this year in Little Rock, Ark.
Herlinger won the awards in the category of writing. He won the award of excellence for newspaper feature, single story, for an article on Haiti’s ailing food system that appeared Sept. 3, 2010, in National Catholic Reporter.
The Associated Church Press also honored that story in its annual “Best of the Christian Press” competition, announcing the awards during its April 27-29 meeting, held in Chicago. Herlinger won honorable mention for in-depth coverage in the category of newspaper/news service/newsletter/website/blog. The 95-year-old ACP is the oldest and largest religious press association in North America.
Herlinger also won an RCC DeRose-Hinkhouse award of excellence in the category of magazine article, single story, for an article evaluating the humanitarian response in Haiti six months after the quake that appeared in the Aug. 24, 2010, edition of The Christian Century.
The reporting on Haiti was based on two assignments for CWS and the ACT Alliance in 2010. Herlinger is currently writing a book on Haiti, “Rubble Nation: Haiti’s Pain, Haiti’s Promise” that will be published in the fall of 2011 by Seabury Books, a division of New York-based Church Publishing Group.
This marks the fifth successive year Herlinger has won a DeRose-Hinkhouse Award and the second for an ACP award.
The DeRose-Hinkhouse Memorial Awards are given each year to active RCC members who demonstrate excellence in religious communications and public relations. Established in 1967, the awards are named for the late Victor DeRose and the late Paul M. Hinkhouse, leading lithographers in New York City and longtime friends of RCC.
The Religion Communicators Council is an interfaith association of religion communicators at work in print and electronic communication, marketing, and public relations. Established in 1929, it is the oldest association of religion communicators in the United States.
More than 200 entries won awards in the most recent ACP “Best of the Christian Press” competition for ACP-member publications’ and individual members’ work done in 2010. A panel of independent judges chose winners from more than 1,000 entries in 60 categories.