Spring Honors

A couple of weeks ago I found out that my work won three awards from the Catholic Press Association. Most people in Columbus know me as a food writer, but writing about religion and spirituality is what got me into this biz in the first place. (And, in truth, it's the work that's still closest to my heart.) What I like to tell people, when they ask what I write about, is that I write about nourishment of all kinds.

Here are my projects from the past year that won the awards:

• "Uncommon Choir," my two-week travelogue throughout the Pacific Northwest with the University of Notre Dame Folk Choir, won first place for best feature writing (national newspaper category) and second place for best reporting on young adults (same category).
• "Hollywood and Poverty," my profile of LA filmmaker Gerry Straub, won second place for best profile, national newspaper. Incidentally, the profile that won first place was one that I edited.