Religious Reporting Award Announced
Diocesan Press Service. March 11, 1974 [74069]
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- The winner of the 1973 William E. Leidt Award for Excellence in religious reporting in the secular press is Berton Roueche for his article, "The Good News," which appeared in The New Yorker magazine, May 12, 1973.
The award, given annually by the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, was established in 1963 to honor William E. Leidt, for more than 40 years a Council staff member and editor, who died in February, 1974. The award includes a citation and a check for $100.
Mr. Roueche's article is a profile of the Rev. Edward Thomas Hougen, a Congregational minister. It deals with the problems he faces in a Massachusetts town.
One of the judges commented that "the writer succeeds in conveying the theological and institutional problems which are plaguing the Christian church and which the recent seminary graduate has had to wrestle with: is genuine theological orthodoxy still valid? how can the New Testament relate to the concerns of the average person? how should -- and does -- the contemporary clergyman minister to the present condition in which modern man/woman lives ?"
Another judge called the article "excellent, in-depth reporting." The "overall, effect," he said, is positive without, however, minimizing the great problems involved."
In the judging, second place went to William A. Reed for his series, "The Catholic Crisis," in The Tennessean, Nashville, Tenn. "These articles," said one judge, "go a long way to promote understanding of the Catholic Church in the Tennessee situation. " The series was cited as "objective, thorough, well-researched" writing and "a thoughtful approach to the problems besetting the Roman Catholic Church since Vatican II. "
Receiving honorable mention in the judging were a series of articles on religious sects by Anne Demeusy, Laurence Cohen, and J. Herbert Smith in The Hartford (Connecticut) Courant; George W. Cornell, Associated Press religion writer, for a selection of articles ; and Bob Wilcox of The Miami (Florida) News, for a series on the current religious situation.
The distinguished panel of judges included : James A. Doyle, executive director of the Catholic Press Association; Dr. Alfred P. Klausler, executive secretary of the Associated Church Press; and Dr. Marvin C. Wilbur, executive secretary of the Religious Public Relations Council.