Campaign coverage recognised

The Lutheran has won a bronze award at this year’s Australasian Religious Press Association (ARPA) conference awards ceremony held in Brisbane this month.

The recognition in the Best Feature, Multiple Authors category was given for The Lutheran’s coverage of the LCA’s launch of its Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence Campaign, Hidden Hurts Healing Hearts.

Published in the November 2017 issue, the nine-page package of stories and columns included two personal accounts of domestic and family violence by members of the LCA whose names were withheld from publication. It also featured a message from Bishop John Henderson for Australia’s White Ribbon Day, Pastor Ian Rentsch’s piece on the background to and launch of the campaign and Lisa McIntosh’s editorial on the subject. Hidden Hurts Healing Hearts was developed as the result of a resolution passed by the 2015 General Synod.

The ARPA Awards judges said: ‘Using case studies backed up by facts and including links to support agencies, this well-presented piece will be an eye-opener for some readers and aims to prompt everyone to recognise the signs of domestic violence and do something about it’.

The 2018 Gutenberg Award, ARPA’s premier annual accolade, was won by NZ Baptist, a bi-monthly magazine of the Baptist Churches of New Zealand. The Lutheran won the Gutenberg in 2011.