IMAGE: CNS photo/Chaz Muth
By
GREEN BAY, Wis. (CNS) — Julie Asher is the recipient of the
2018 St. Francis de Sales Award from the Catholic Press Association of the
United States and Canada.
The
award recognizes “outstanding contributions to Catholic journalism”
and is the highest honor given by CPA. It was presented during a June 15
luncheon at the Catholic Media Conference in Green Bay.
“Wow.
It’s overwhelming,” said Asher after she was handed the award.
“I
can confirm there was no Russian collusion on this — I had to say that coming here
from Washington,” she added.
Asher
thanked her CNS colleagues, led by editor-in-chief Greg Erlandson, and his
predecessors.
“I
also want to thank all of you, my colleagues in the Catholic press, for what you
do every single day and what you contribute to CNS. We are all workers in the
vineyard; we do it every single day to tell the story of the Catholic Church,”
she said.
Asher
noted that she didn’t come from a journalism family but said she had some ink
in her blood because her father was an ink salesman and sold ink to several
small newspapers in eastern Colorado and western Nebraska.
“I
always wanted to be a journalist and to tell stories,” she said, adding
that she loves what she does.
“I
love what we all do in the Catholic press: We tell stories of people’s faith in
action, explaining what the church teaches and why, what the church says in
response to the issues of the day — immigration, racism, the environment and
all manner of other things.”
She
pointed out that some stories are difficult to cover, for instance, the sex
abuse crisis, telling the stories of the survivors and how the church is
addressing it or stories of parish closings and what that means to those who
call those parishes home.
But she
also said there are plenty of stories that are more positive, such as what Catholics
do for the poor, the marginalized, the immigrant and refugees; stories about
Catholic agencies, volunteers who are there for those suffering through a
natural disaster or other calamity; stories about outreach to people in the
inner cities; and about the richness of Catholic life in mission dioceses.
Asher, who
has been national editor of Catholic News Service for more than 20 years,
coordinates all national coverage and book reviews. To many client editors, she
is the first person with whom they come in contact at CNS.
Prior
to working at Catholic News Service, where she started as a general assignment
reporter, she was a reporter at the Scottsbluff Star-Herald daily in Nebraska
and the Denver Catholic in her home state of Colorado.
Asher
has been a member of the Society for Professional Journalists for more than 30
years, joining as a college student. She has had many leadership roles in the
group and has been an awarded by the group for her achievements. She has
presented workshops at Catholic Media Conventions and served on nominating
committees for the Catholic Press Association.
She is also
the CNS intern coordinator and has mentored dozens of young college students,
many of whom now work at Catholic publications.
Asked
about her internship for Asher’s nomination submission, Colleen Dulle, former
CNS intern who now works for America magazine, said Asher’s “mentorship
was invaluable,” noting that not only did she make time for weekly
meetings with interns but she also made sure they got what they hoped to
experience from their internships.
“For
example, I told her I wanted to report in a press pool at a large event, so
Julie assigned me to a White House summit. She also pushed me out of my comfort
zone, in one instance assigning me a political story that landed me my first
byline in America magazine, where I am now an O’Hare Fellow. “
She
also said Asher “never turned down any of my requests for letters of
recommendation, showing how committed she is to helping me continue to succeed
in journalism.”
The other two finalists were:
— Deacon
Steve Landregan, who retired in 2016 from the Dallas Diocese, was a longtime
editor of the Texas Catholic, diocesan newspaper of Dallas, and served as
director of pastoral planning and research as well as diocesan archivist and
historian in a career that spanned more than 50 years.
He was
a founding member of the Catholic Telecommunications Network of America and in 1979
and directed the Archbishop Sheen Center for Communications, producing Catholic
television and radio programming. His wide variety of Catholic communications
contributions include: newspaper editor, weekly columnist, books, magazine
articles, radio, television, educational television, web content, online blogs,
and social media.
— Ed
Wilkinson, who took on the role of editor emeritus of The Tablet, diocesan
newspaper of Brooklyn, New York, earlier this year. Wilkinson began as The
Tablet’s sports reporter in 1970 and was named editor in 1985.
In
1995, his column anticipating the papal visit to New York led to a personal
meeting with St. John Paul II. In 2016, the CPA honored Wilkinson with first place
for best editorial page or editorial section. Wilkinson also produced the
television segment “The Tablet Week in Review” for 18 years. In 2011,
he became the news director for the daily news show, “Currents,” and
four years later spearheaded live coverage of Pope Francis’ visit to Cuba and
the U.S.
Earlier
this year, Wilkinson won the St. Francis de Sales Distinguished Communicator
Award at the Brooklyn Diocese’s celebration of the World Communications Day,
May 9.
Last
year’s St. Francis de Sales Award winner was Matt Schiller, outgoing CPA president and advertising and
business manager of Catholic New York.
Previous
St. Francis de Sales winners from Catholic News Service include: Tom Lorsung,
editor-in-chief, (1995); Jerry Filteau, reporter (2003); John Thavis, Rome bureau chief, (2007); Tony Spence, editor-in-chief (2010) and Jim Lackey, web editor
(2014).
Erlandson, current CNS editor-in-chief, won the award in 2015, a year before joining the news service.
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Contributing
to this report were Cindy Wooden in Green Bay and Carol Zimmermann in
Washington.
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