Mennonite Weekly Review receives second place Award of Merit from Associated Church Press for my article "When is a peace church..."

This morning I got a call from a member of a small Menonite congregation I attend here in Portland to give me songs to play this coming Sunday. Then, she said she read in Mennonite Weekly Review, a Mennonite church publication, that I had received an award for an article I had written. I was totally unaware of any award. So, I looked it up on the internet and found this (http://www.mennoweekly.org/2009/5/18/mwr-awarded-press-association/?print=1):

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May 18 issue
MWR awarded by press association
By Mennonite Weekly Review staff

INDIANAPOLIS — For the seventh straight year, Mennonite Weekly Review received one of the top awards for newspapers at the Associated Church Press annual convention May 7.

MWR won the second-place Award of Merit in the Best in Class competition for national or international newspapers.

“A well-conceived, sharply focused paper executed with skill and craftsmanship,” judge Pamela Hill Nettleton wrote. “The writing is strong and clear, design does not muddle the message, and the mix of stories directly addresses the publication’s mission.”

The other top awards for newspapers went to The Christian Chronicle, affiliated with the Churches of Christ, which placed first; and United Church News, affiliated with the United Church of Christ, which placed third.

In seven years as an ACP member, MWR has received three first-place awards, three seconds and one third in the Best in Class competition.

MWR received two other awards:

a second-place Award of Merit in editorial or opinion writing for “When Is a Peace Church No Longer a Peace Church?” by Leo Hartshorn, minister of peace and justice for Mennonite Mission Network; (my italics)and

a third-place Honorable Mention for front-page design.

ACP, with about 150 members, is the oldest religious press association in North America.
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Better late in finding this out than never. Thanks MQR for letting me know!

The article can be found at: http://www.mennoweekly.org/2008/7/21/when-peace-church-no-longer-peace-church/