Broken Bay News, the magazine of the Catholic Diocese of Broken Bay, has won the Bishop Philip Kennedy Memorial Award for Overall Excellence at the 2026 Australasian Catholic Press Association Awards in Christchurch.
Dunedin Bishop Michael Dooley presented the award to editor Katrina Lee at the Crowne Plaza on Thursday 27 August.
Judges described the magazine’s design as the most disciplined in the field, with a fixed masthead, seasonal colour coding across the year, and interiors that hold the same standard as the covers.
They singled out the May commemorative edition marking the death of Pope Francis and the election of Pope Leo XIV. A team of two turned that edition around inside a fortnight, ran an enlarged print run, fielded requests from overseas and had a copy signed by Pope Leo himself.
“The cover, Leo in prayer with the colonnade behind him, is the strongest single image any entrant put on a front page,” the judges said. “That is topicality, professionalism and service to the audience in one artefact, which is precisely what this award is asking about.”
The Philip Kennedy Memorial Award recognises overall editorial excellence and outstanding contribution by a Catholic publication in either print or online format.
ACPA President David Ahern congratulated Ms Lee and her team.
“Broken Bay is a very deserving winner and congratulations go to all involved,” he said. “Beating a high-quality field, Broken Bay continues to maintain an excellent standard, and all the winners deserve praise.”
Brisbane’s The Catholic Leader had the strongest night across the content categories, winning Best News Content, Best Feature Content and Best Headline.
Kymberlee Gomes took the feature award for tracking down three people who shared a meal with the future Pope Leo XIV in Mareeba in 2005, twenty years before his election.
New Zealand mastheads featured strongly on home soil. Tui Motu InterIslands won Best Content for Celebrating Cultural Expressions of Catholic Faith for Robyn Andrews’ three-part series on migration and changing parishes, and Kete Kōrero from the Diocese of Hamilton took Best Original Artwork. Common Home TV won Best Layout and Design, Online, which judges praised for borrowing the layout of high-profile streaming platforms to serve a Catholic audience.
Toowoomba’s Horizons won Best Layout and Design in print along with Best Content for Education, and Catholic Life from the Diocese of Lismore was named Most Improved Publication after what judges called a complete overhaul of design, storytelling and photography.
Other winners included Melbourne Catholic, Catholic Outlook, The Southern Cross, Eureka Street, The Catholic Weekly, The Record Magazine and Australian Jesuits.
The awards capped a two-day conference built around Pope Leo XIV’s message for the 60th World Day of Social Communications, on the theme Preserving Human Voices and Faces.
“This has been a wonderful conference in Christchurch, and we look forward to the Congress in Melbourne in 2027,” Mr Ahern said.
The major Platinum sponsors were the Catholic Development Fund and Caritas Aotearoa New Zealand. Gold sponsors were the Catholic Enquiry Centre (NZ), Catholic Mission and the Catholic Diocese of Christchurch, with Caritas Australia, Harvest Journeys and CathNews NZ as Silver sponsors.
More details at https://acpa.asn.au/
