Salt Lake City, USA - The Religion Newswriters Association, which represents journalists across North America, distributed awards Sept. 9 at its annual convention in Salt Lake City.
Richard Ostling, who recently retired as a religion writer for The Associated Press, and who was the longtime Time magazine religion writer, received the RNA's Lifetime Achievement Award.
Gary Stern of The Journal News in White Plains, N.Y., received The Templeton Reporter Award, while Douglas Todd of The Vancouver Sun, in British Columbia, got The Supple Award for writing.
Robert Sibley of the Ottawa Citizen in Canada won The Templeton Story Award, and Nicole Neroulias of the San Mateo County Times in California won The Cassels Award for writers at papers with 50,000 or less circulation. John Chadwick of The Record of Bergen County, N.J., won The Cornell Award, the top reporting honor for mid-size papers.
The Record of Ontario, Canada, and The Salt Lake Tribune won The Schachern Award for their religion sections. And Roy Maurer of Indiana University won the Chandler Award for excellence in student journalism.
The Religion Newswriters Association was founded in 1949 to educate and support religion reporters in the secular press.