Tag: journalism awards

Best Reporter winner: My portfolio honored by Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists

May 20, 2018

TULSA, Okla. — I was honored May 19 to win second place for “Best Reporter” from the Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists.

The award recognized my 2017 stories on Syrian refugees in Canada, the 50th anniversary of the Detroit race riot, Hurricane Harvey disaster relief, a woman who confessed to murder after her baptism and a prom for special-needs teens and adults.

Jennifer Palmer of Oklahoma Watch earned first place, and Darla Slipke of The Oklahoman came in third.

The contest is open to Oklahoma-based news media, which includes The Christian Chronicle. Most of the competitors are secular news organizations. Because of our circulation size, we compete against the largest newspapers in the state.

I also placed in four other categories: election reporting, government reporting, diversity reporting and criminal justice reporting. Winners were announced at the SPJ’s annual banquet.

See a full list of my awards.

Related: Christian Chronicle again wins top national prize, plus four first-place honors for my stories

Christian Chronicle again wins top national prize, plus four first-place honors for my stories

May 12, 2018

CHICAGO — For the fourth year in a row, The Christian Chronicle — where I serve as chief correspondent — was recognized as the top national or international newspaper in the Associated Church Press’ annual “Best of the Church Press” contest.

I was blessed to receive six individual honors — including first place in four categories — at the April 20 awards banquet.

In case my mother is reading, here is a list of the awards:

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First Place, Feature Article, for “In Canada, Syrian refugees find love and hope” from St. Catharines, Ontario.

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First Place (with Bob Smietana), News Story, for coverage of mass shooting at Tennessee church, including my story “For survivors of Tennessee shooting, healing will take time and patience.”

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First Place (with Chellie Ison), In-depth Coverage, for coverage of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, including my stories “Faithful mobilize shelters for Hurricane Harvey flooding victims” from Belton, Texas, “In a small town, a church becomes a hub for Harvey relief” from La Grange, Texas, “After Harvey, hope for heroes and victims” from Houston and “18 vans, 150 volunteers, 465 miles, one goal: to help Harvey victims” from Houston.

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First Place (with Chellie Ison and Lynn McMillon), Theme Issue, Section or Series, for coverage of faith and opioids, including my stories “South Carolina church battles opioids ’emergency'” from Surfside Beach, S.C., ” “The leprosy in my neighborhood is addiction” from Pontiac, Mich., and “One church’s ‘compassionate and Christ-like’ approach to the opioid crisis.”

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First Place (staff award), Best in Class, National or International Newspaper, for The Christian Chronicle.

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Second Place, News Story, for “Catholic faith moves Houston’s ‘Mattress Mack’ to shelter Hurricane Harvey victims” from Houston. (This was a freelance piece I wrote for Religion News Service.)

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Third Place (with Bob Smietana), In-depth Coverage, for coverage of mass shootings at churches, including my stories “For survivors of Tennessee shooting, healing will take time and patience” and “Texas hero risked life to save others.”

Related: Best Reporter winner: My portfolio honored by Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists

Texas hero risked life to save others

November 7, 2017

With the death toll at 26, Stephen Willeford confronted — and shot — the Sutherland Springs gunman.

Third Place, In-depth Coverage, Associated Church Press

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

Heroes need prayers, too.

Stephen Willeford — the Texan who confronted and shot the gunman who killed 26 people at a rural Baptist church Sunday — could use a bunch of prayers, his close friend John Wood says.

To many, Willeford’s actions outside the First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs made him a hero.

But the hero, who is described as a faithful Christian, was distraught when he called Wood at his Ohio home right after confirming gunman Devin Patrick Kelley’s death.

“I talked to him immediately after it happened, basically before any of the law enforcement arrived,” Wood — a retired Church of Christ minister and Air Force chaplain — told The Christian Chronicle. “He called me and said, ‘I just killed a man.’”

Texas Department of Public Safety Cmdr. Freeman Martin told reporters that an armed citizen, identified as Willeford, shot Kelley in the leg and torso. However, an autopsy indicated that a third shot — a self-inflicted wound to the head — likely killed Kelley.

Wood had just gotten home from worship at the Xenia Church of Christ in the Buckeye State when his phone rang.

The longtime preacher said he relied on his training in counseling as he comforted Willeford, who has long ties to Churches of Christ.

Read the full story.

First published online, this story appears in the December 2017 print edition of The Christian Chronicle.

 

18 vans, 150 volunteers, 465 miles, one goal: to help Harvey victims

October 26, 2017

‘These people are amazing,’ says an Iranian immigrant grateful for the love shown after his family’s home flooded.

First Place, In-depth Coverage, Associated Church Press

Second Place, Best Reporter portfolio, Oklahoma Society of Professional Journalists

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

HOUSTON — The homeowner was shirtless and sweating.

He was still angry — he admitted that much — over the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey two months ago.

But he was curious, too, about the strangers who showed up in white vans in his neighborhood and raked trash and debris from his barren yard.

“They came all the way down here for this?” he asked, intrigued that these Christians drove 465 miles to serve victims of a storm that dumped a record-breaking 52 inches of rain on the nation’s fourth-largest city.

A slight smile formed on the man’s face.

“I usually tell people from Oklahoma to head north,” he joked.

These days, though, southeast Texas can use the help — even it comes from across the Red River.

Emotional scenes of boats rescuing Lone Star State residents from flooded homes have faded from television screens. But for thousands who lost possessions and livelihoods, needs remain immense.

That’s why the Edmond Church of Christ — a 1,200-member congregation north of Oklahoma City — felt compelled to send help.

Read the full story.

First published online, this story appears in the December 2017 print edition of The Christian Chronicle.

 

For survivors of Tennessee church shooting, healing will take time and patience

October 13, 2017

‘You don’t ever get over those things. You just learn how to get through them,’ says a minister familiar with tragedy.

First Place, News Story, Associated Church Press

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

The gunman took the love of Mavy Stoddard’s life.

She refused to let him take her hope.

“God’s been good to me,” said Stoddard, whose husband, Dorwan, 76, died when a would-be assassin opened fire on U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords outside a Tucson, Ariz., supermarket on Jan. 8, 2011. “My faith got me through all this without falling apart.”

But even now — nearly seven years after the Arizona attack in which six were killed and 13 others injured — Mavy Stoddard breaks down sometimes.

“Just this last Sunday, I spent 15 minutes crying and feeling sorry for myself,” said Stoddard, 82, who lived despite suffering three bullet wounds. “But 15 minutes is all I will allow myself anymore.”

For survivors of the recent mass shooting at the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ in Antioch, Tenn., healing will take time and patience, said Stoddard and other Christians who have experienced past tragedies.

“I would tell them they need to load up on patience and mercy and grace,” said Les Ferguson Jr., a minister whose wife, Karen, 44, and son Cole, 21, were shot to deathin the family’s Gulfport, Miss., home on Oct. 11, 2011.

Melanie Crow, 38, was killed and seven other Burnette Chapel members wounded — including minister Joey Spann — when a masked gunman targeted the congregation Sept. 24.

To members’ shock, the man arrested by police — 25-year-old Emanuel K. Samson — was someone they knew.

Read the full story.

This story appears in the November 2017 edition of The Christian Chronicle.

 

After Hurricane Harvey, hope for heroes and victims

September 7, 2017

‘Do not let your spiritual life go while you’re helping other people in the name of Jesus,’ a Houston minister urges his congregation.

First Place, In-depth Coverage, Associated Church Press

By Bobby Ross Jr. | The Christian Chronicle

HOUSTON — This one was personal.

When I traveled to New Orleans and the Mississippi Gulf Coastto cover Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the churches I visited were new to me.

The resilient Christians who survived Katrina became special to me. However, I didn’t know them before the storm.

Hurricane Harvey is different.

In my time with The Christian Chronicle, I have made frequent trips to Houston: I have come here to report on churches — black, white and brown — joining together to show unity in Christ. I have come here to report on the model inner-city works of the Impact Houston Church of Christ. I have come here to report on a growing congregation of Vietnamese immigrants — a story I hadn’t even finished before Harvey beckoned me back to Rocket City.

This one was personal.

David Duncan, minister for the Memorial Church of Christ in Houston, is one of my best friends. We attended Oklahoma Christian University together in the 1980s. But we didn’t really become close until 1999 when we roomed together on a mission trip to Vitoria, Brazil, where David and his wife, Barbara, had spent a decade as full-time missionaries.

Read the full column.

This column appears in the online edition of The Christian Chronicle.

Catholic faith moves ‘Mattress Mack’ to shelter Harvey victims

September 5, 2017

Second Place, News Story, Associated Church Press

By Bobby Ross Jr. | For Religion News Service

HOUSTON — Jim “Mattress Mack” McIngvale was kicking himself the morning after Hurricane Harvey made landfall, for closing his furniture stores while some people could still shop.

Known to millions in America’s fourth-largest city because he stars in his own zany television commercials, McIngvale had closed all three of his Gallery Furniture locations on Aug. 26.

“A lot of these small retailers up and down the street were open, and they were doing a lot of business,” said the fast-talking entrepreneur, whose antics have included promising to refund customers’ money if the Astros win this year’s World Series.

Little did McIngvale know that Houston quickly would become a disaster zone — and that he, driven by his faith, would emerge as one of the battered city’s most beloved heroes.

On the Sunday after the storm hit land, the 66-year-old entrepreneur rose early to attend Mass at Houston’s Assumption Catholic Church.

But he couldn’t get out of his driveway. The storm that would dump a record-breaking 50-plus inches of rain on the Bayou City had him blocked in. He was stuck at his house for three hours before he could leave.

The flooded cars on the freeway made him realize the extent of the disaster, as did the “hundreds of calls and emails and texts of people wanting us to rescue them” that greeted him at his original Gallery Furniture location.

When he settled into the store, McIngvale — who can display both his cantankerous and compassionate natures nearly simultaneously — pivoted from selling furniture to rescuing and housing fellow Texans trapped by floodwaters.

His faith, he said, moved him to help.

Read the full story.

Religion News Service is a national wire service whose media partners include The Associated Press, USA Today and the Washington Post.