The Catholic Explorer is honored for its 2006 Gift of Christmas program by Northern Illinois Newspaper Association in its new community service category. This colorful drawing accompanied the Advent appeal, which netted $19,000 for Catholic Charities’ clients.

DE KALB—The Catholic Explorer was awarded first place for the newspaper’s 2006 Gift of Christmas program by Northern Illinois Newspaper Association in its new community service category. Graphic artist Tracy Pollack created the attractive holiday design for the project.

The diocesan publication garnered a total of five awards during the newspaper association’s fall conference and awards ceremony Oct. 26 in the Holmes Student Center at Northern Illinois University in De Kalb.

In comments about the first place honor, the judges stated, “The Catholic Explorer teams with Catholic Charities to highlight the needs of area families in the holiday season and generates $19,000 in donations to help meet the families’ needs. The series of descriptions of families in need are poignant, yet preserve their privacy and dignity.” Editor Mary Breslin’s “editorial encouraging charity is beautifully written,” added the NINA judges.

NINA, which was established more than three decades ago, strives to encourage, promote and recognize newspapers in Northern Illinois and works to advance journalistic professionalism. The group is currently comprised of over 50 publications ranging from weeklies with circulations under 2,000 to large newspapers with distributions in excess of 200,000.

During the awards ceremony, Breslin claimed second place honors in the editorial category for “Feeding Frenzy,” a piece published on the diocesan newspaper’s viewpoints and reflections page. Mike Rickman, the art director, earned second place honors for designing and maintaining the publication’s Web site, www.catholicexplorer.com. This was a first for both Rickman and Breslin in these categories.

Assistant editor Kathrynne Skonicki and senior writer/photographer Paul Storer received honorable mention in the news series category for their 2006 summer series, dubbed “The face of aging.” Storer represented the newspaper at the event.

Among other newspapers that garnered awards at the event, the staff of the Observer, newspaper of the Rockford Diocese, was spotlighted in NINA’s religious reporting and news story series categories and took home first place honors in the association’s new best effort to attract young readers category. The Explorer earned second place in this category for its youth page.