The Associated Church Press (ACP) recently recognized The Good Newsroom, the digital newsroom of the Archdiocese of New York, in its annual Best of the Church Press Contest with an Award of Excellence, the highest-level recognition, in three categories: website, integrated communications, and visual communications for a feature video. In total The Good Newsroom earned seven awards for work published in 2024. This is the second year the newsroom has been recognized by the ACP.

The groundbreaking newsroom launched in 2022 to replace a bi-weekly print publication with a modern approach to communications. Hallmarks of the entity include multichannel publishing in a timely manner and use of video storytelling. Videos of Cardinal Timothy Dolan, Archbishop of New York, are a regular feature. “You might see my videos on The Good Newsroom from time to time, but you’ll also see stories about the overall Catholic faith and all the ways it touches our community. I’m proud that The Good Newsroom team has been recognized by the Associated Church Press for its superb work,” he said.

The newsroom’s website, www.theGoodNewsroom.org, was recognized with an Award of Excellence, the highest-level award, in the Overall Excellence/Best in Class “Independent Website” category. With 48% growth in year-over-year average monthly visitors, the website serves as the hub of the newsroom’s publishing model. The team publishes over 2,000 stories each year, and the website was specifically designed to accommodate this volume of stories in a quick publishing model. In addition, Spanish-language content can be found at BuenasNoticias.org, a dedicated landing page within the website.

The Good Newsroom also earned an Award of Excellence in the Visual Communications “Integrated Communications/Multimedia Special Project” category for its series of stories and related social media content about the 2024 annual Our Lady of Guadalupe Mass and celebrations. The archdiocese has a robust calendar of Hispanic Masses throughout the year, but this one is the largest and draws thousands of people to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. In total, 25 stories were published to educate, promote, and cover this important Catholic cultural tradition in New York. A dedicated website landing page was developed to house articles and videos in English and Spanish. Photography was also used to illustrate the vibrant activities.

The newsroom reporters dominated the Visual Communications “Editorial, Documentary-Style, or Educational Feature” category with first, second and third place videos. Fernanda Pierorazio earned an Award of Excellence for her Spanish-language video, “Traditional Mañanitas” (which was also part of the Our Lady of Guadalupe series of stories). Mary Shovlain earned an Award of Merit and an Honorable Mention for two videos: “Cardinal Dolan Celebrates Opening Mass for Jubilee Year 2025 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral” and “Human Trafficking Panel Discussion in St. Patrick’s Cathedral.”

The team also earned two additional Honorable Mention Visual Communications awards: Fernanda Pierorazio in the “Video Series” category for “Faith of Artists” and Patrick Grady in the “News Story or Current Event” video category for “Cardinal Dolan Visits Annual 9/11 Remembrance Event at ‘Pride of Midtown’ Firehouse.”

To learn more about The Good Newsroom visit www.theGoodNewsroom.org or BuenasNoticias.org.