June 24, 2024 — We’re proud to announce that our Jesuit Conference’s Office of Communications and Vocation Promotion team won 15 2024 Catholic Media Awards, including honors for the new Jesuit Media Lab website, the AMDG podcast, and various video, written and social media content.
The Catholic Media Awards are presented annually by the Catholic Media Association, an association of publishers and communication professionals in Catholic media. The association sponsors various award programs that honor works that inform and promote the mission of the Catholic Church.
Our Jesuit Media Lab (JML) website won first place for “Best New Website.” The JML is a place to gather, form and unleash Ignatian creators. The website includes blog posts, articles and audio/video resources on topics ranging from the Catholic storytelling tradition to graphic design for beginners. The site publishes work from our freelance partners, from reflections on the Gospel to book excerpts to how Ignatian contemplation can improve your writing.
The AMDG podcast, a weekly podcast show on spirituality, culture and social justice featuring conversations with Jesuits and friends, took home several awards, including second place for “Best Podcast” and first place in the “Best Podcast Series” category for “The Arts and Ignatian Spirituality Series.”
AMDG also took third place for the episode “From Prison in Nicaragua to Exile in the U.S. with Juan Sebastián Chamorro” in the “Best Podcast – Topical News” category and received an honorable mention for “How Young Adults’ Faith is Defying Classic Categories with Ellen Koneck” in the “Best Podcast – Expression of Faith” category. The AMDG episode “Faith and Politics with Senator Tim Kaine” won second place for “Best Interview – Audio.”
“Fisheries to Farmlands: A Pilgrimage in Integral Ecology” received first place in both the “Best Multimedia Package – Social Justice Issues” and “Best Package – Political Issues” categories. Produced by Eric Clayton, deputy director of communications, and MegAnne Liebsch, communications manager for justice and ecology, it included a story, videos, photos and a podcast episode from Clayton and Liebsch’s visit to Kenya and Zambia where they spent time with a young Jesuit regent named Bryan Galligan, who was serving as the research and policy analyst for the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network in the Jesuit Conference of Africa and Madagascar.
Additional second place awards for the Conference included: “‘God’s Grandeur’ – in Comic-Book Form” by Julian Peters in “Best Illustration with Graphic Design or Art;” “Jesuit Book Club Author Conversation with Fr. James Martin, SJ” in “Best Video – Panel Discussion, Diocesan and National News Organizations”; and our social media efforts on the repression of Jesuits in Nicaragua in “Best Use of Social Media for Breaking News.”
Our website, Jesuits.org, received an honorable mention for “Best Online Content Not Published in Print – Feature.” Now Discern This, a weekly email that is also published on Jesuits.org, received an honorable mention for “Best Blog – Expression of Faith.”
Mike Jordan Laskey, director of communications at the Jesuit Conference, received two honorable mentions for his work published by the Grotto Network, including in the “Best Blog – Social Justice Issues” category for “A Groundbreaking Approach to Reconciliation and Racial Justice,” a reflection on what the pursuit of reconciliation required from the Descendants of Jesuit slaveholding and the Jesuits of the U.S., who partnered to form the Descendants Truth and Reconciliation Foundation in 2021. His other award was for “How Catholicism — and Jurassic Park — Can Inform Our Discussions on Future Tech” in “Best Blog – Expression of Faith.”
The Conference is grateful to have its work recognized and looks forward to continuing to produce multimedia content that promotes Ignatian spirituality and the good news of Jesus Christ.
