The Word Guild Awards – Various Book and Column Writing Categories

• 2015 – Winner for “Of lions, children, and innocence of lives given” and “Life is in the small pleasures, the simple moments” (Hamilton Spectator)
• 2015 – Winner for (blog) “Fear and childbirth in Uganda” (The Daily Dad)
• 2014 – Shortlisted five times, including for “25 years after the Wall fell” (Hamilton Spectator)
• 2012 – Winner for “Judgment is good – Indeed, is needed” (Hamilton Spectator)
• 2011 – Winner for “It’s not about me” (Christian Week)
• 2011 – Award of Merit for “Living in God’s mercy” (Christian Week)
• 2011 – Award of Merit for “And Lo! A child is saved from a brutal death” (Hamilton Spectator)
• 2010 – Winner for “There’s lots to learn about life, death, from developing world” (Hamilton Spectator)
• 2010 – Award of Merit for “By losing fun we risk much more” (Hamilton Spectator)
• 2010 – Shortlisted for “There is no us versus them” (Christian Week)
• 2009 – Winner for Best Book – Culture, “Ninety-Nine Windows, Reflections of a Reporter from Arabia to Africa and other Roads Less Travelled.”
• 2009 – Shortlisted twice in book categories Life Stories and General Readership – “Ninety-Nine Windows”
• 2009 – Winner for “He Shoots! He Scores! — Ugandan Style” (Hamilton Spectator)
• 2008 – Winner for “‘God is not a black woman.’ Is She?” (Christian Week)
• 2007 – Short-listed five times for various columns, including “Dead religion simply needs to be renewed” (New Vision)
• 2006 – Winner for “Where is African Spirituality Heading?” & “Doomsday Diversions” (Christian Week)
• 2006 – Award of Merit for “Christmas: the luxury to pick and choose” (Christian Week)
• 2005 – Winner for “Life is like a Hazy Mirror” (The Hamilton Spectator)

International Fellowships

• 2004 – Salzburg Global Seminar: Trade, Aid, and Development: Policy Tools for Poverty Reduction, in Salzburg Austria. See 2004 column “Doh, o doh, some tourist dough” (Hamilton Spectator).
• 1998 to 2001 – One of five Canadians awarded scholarships by Washington-based Gegrapha, a fellowship of journalists to discuss media ethics and standards worldwide – 2001 in Washington D.C., 1999 in Chichester, UK, 1998 in London, UK

Previous Awards (for work published in the St. Thomas Times-Journal)

Canadian Association of Journalists

• 1999 nomination in investigative reporting category for “Bound by Faith,” a series on global persecution of various faith groups.

Sun Media Edward Dunlop Awards of Excellence

• 1997 Honourable Mention for “Will the Real Mr. Christmas Stand Up?” a Christmas commentary.
• 1994 Winner for “Blood wins over Call for Native Rights,” a series on a native children custody battle.
• 1993 Winner for “Looking for LEM,” a humorous look at the mythical ‘Lake Erie Monster.’

Canadian Press, Ontario News Awards

• 1996 Winner for a series on the plight of disabled Ontario Provincial Police officer Mike Irwin.
• 1995 Honourable Mention for a series relating to False Memory Syndrome and charges of sex crimes within a St. Thomas family.

INTERVIEW: Understanding our faith through the prism of story