The Catholic Messenger has earned an award in the 2023 Iowa Better Newspaper Contests, which received approximately 2,500 entries in dozens of categories. The Catholic Messenger competed in the Weekly Class III category, for newspapers with a weekly circulation of 1,551 subscribers or more.
Editor Barb Arland-Fye earned third-place honors in the Best Personality Features category for Weekly Class III papers. Her story, titled “Escape from Afghanistan,” profiled the experiences of an Afghan family who fled grave danger in their homeland and demonstrated courage and resilience in rebuilding their lives in the U.S. The contest judge commented: “I thought this was the most exciting story of the bunch. Unusual tale and interesting story you wouldn’t expect to read in a hometown paper anywhere in the country.”
