Angelus received a total of 19 Catholic Media Awards for work published in 2025, including top honors for its coverage of the January 2025 LA wildfires and for Editor-in-Chief Pablo Kay as “Editor of the Year.”
The awards were announced at the conclusion of the 2026 Catholic Media Conference, held June 16-19 in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
The magazine’s wildfire coverage earned First Place in the “Best Coverage – Disaster or Crises” category, with judges praising its “real immediacy, strong follow-up, and a clear sense of what this crisis meant to the affected faith community.”
“It combines breaking coverage, recovery storytelling, service journalism, and emotional resonance in a way that feels essential and complete,” the judges wrote.
A photograph submitted by Jack McGeagh of a statue of the Virgin Mary standing amidst the rubble of his family’s home, destroyed in the Palisades Fire hours earlier, also won First Place in the “Best Photograph - Scenic, Still-life or Weather Photo” for capturing “loneliness and hope at once.”
Amy Welborn’s review of the Apple TV show “Pluribus” won First Place for using “the work itself as a springboard for a larger, intelligent argument without losing sight of the craft on screen.”
“The piece is thoughtful, culturally alert and sharply written, moving from plot and performance into a compelling meditation on sameness, technology, freedom and the threat of the hive mind. It feels fresh, substantial and memorable,” wrote the judges of Welborn’s review. Welborn also earned an honorable mention in the “Best Analysis Writing on the Sacraments” category for her look at whether criticism of three TV shows for allegedly blasphemous scenes actually held up.
Angelus was also recognized for its team coverage of the Church’s response to the federal immigration sweeps that rattled Southern California in the summer of 2025 (Second Place) and of the 2025 Jubilee Year (Third Place). The publication also finished third in the “Best Diocesan Magazine” category.
Columnists Heather King, Archbishop José H. Gomez, Robert Brennan, and Grazie Christie received second and third place honors in their respective “Best Column” categories.
Among the individual Angelus pieces recognized by the CMA judges was Mike Aquilina’s essay on Evagrius Ponticus, an obscure 4th century Christian heretic whose ideas were suppressed only to influence Buddhism centuries later; and a piece by guest writer Grant Martsolf detailing the story behind his family’s unusual pregnancy years after deciding not to have more children.
First Place
Editor of the Year - English-language : Pablo Kay
Best Coverage – Disaster or Crises: January 2025 LA wildfires by Angelus Staff, Ann Rodgers and Mike Cisneros
Best Photograph – Scenic, Still-life or Weather Photo: “God Still Loves Us”: The Virgin Mary in the rubble of the Jan. 2025 Palisades Fire by Jack McGeagh
Best Review: “If You’re Happy, Do You Know It?” (A review of Apple TV’s “Pluribus”) by Amy Welborn
Second Place
Best Regular Column – Art, Leisure, Culture and Food - “Desire Lines” by Heather King
Best Review: “Sticking to the Prayers”: A review of “The Ritual” by Joe Joyce
Best Coverage — Immigration - The Catholic Church’s response to the immigration raids of summer 2025 by Archbishop José H. Gomez, Pablo Kay, Mike Cisneros and Kimmy Chacón
Best Essay – Diocesan Magazines - “A Monk’s Long, Strange Trip” by Mike Aquilina
Third Place
Magazine of the Year – Diocesan Magazines - Angelus
Best Coverage — Hot Topic — The Jubilee Year - “Going into Jubilee Mode” by Mike Aquilina, Mike Cisneros and Pablo Kay
Best Regular Column – Bishop’s Column in a Diocesan Magazine - “New World of Faith” by Archbishop José H. Gomez
Best Regular Column – Family Life - “With Grace” by Dr. Grazie Pozo Christie
Honorable Mention
Best Review - “Dying to Go to the Movies” (Three helpful movies about death) by Joseph Joyce
Best Essay - “A Reproductive Revolution” by Elise Ureneck
Best Regular Column – General Commentary - “Ad Rem” by Robert Brennan
Best Guest Column/Commentary - “An Act That Doesn’t Compute” by Grant Martsolf
Best Title and Lead-In - “A New Life Sentence: Inmates and Deputies at Men’s Central Jail Were Expecting a ‘Regular’ Mass” by Pablo Kay
Best Analysis Writing on the Sacraments - “The Blasphemy Test” by Amy Welborn
Best Illustration with Graphic Design or Art - “Chasing a New High: What Can Break America’s Sports Gambling Addiction?” by Jacob Popcak
