Fr. Dennis Berry drives a young Venezuelan couple and their 8-year-old son back home from the rectory at St. James Parish, where they spent the afternoon doing laundry for themselves and eight other Venezuelans living with them. Camillo Barone's story about Berry was part of a package that earned him third place for an RNA award. (NCR photo/Camillo Barone)
by Jeromiah Taylor
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Two National Catholic Reporter journalists won awards for their work at the 2026 Religion News Association Awards. The RNA Excellence in Religion Reporting Contest winners were announced April 25 during the organization's 77th annual conference in Atlanta.
NCR staff reporter Camillo Barone won the Renner Award for Excellence in In-Depth and Continuing Coverage category, placing third after The New York Times and NBC News. Brian Roewe, NCR's environment correspondent, was honored in the first division for niche and religious audiences, also placing third.
The contest "recognizes excellence in religion reporting across print, audio, video and digital journalism," the organization said in a press release. Entries were judged by current and former journalists and journalism educators.
NCR staff reporter Camillo Barone at the RNA awards dinner at Courtyard by Marriott Atlanta Decatur Downtown/Emory in Atlanta April 25 (Courtesy of Camillo Barone)
Barone's award recognized his ongoing reporting on the church's response to immigration enforcement operations in Chicago. The winning story package included an interview with Cardinal Blase Cupich, a profile of a priest who does laundry for migrant families in fear of deportation and reporting on the persistent efforts of Catholic organizers to bring communion to detainees of the Broadview ICE Detention Center.
The RNA honored Roewe's reporting on the environmental developments in the Catholic world, particularly the efforts of Appalachian Catholics to implement Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Si' under the guidance of Bishop John Stowe of Lexington, Kentucky, and the fate of Catholic solar projects in the wake of federal spending cuts. Rounding out Roewe's award-winning work was his deep dive into Pope Leo XIV's pastoral service in Peru.
"The talented team of journalists at NCR work hard every day to provide our readers with thoughtful and insightful coverage of Catholicism, and I'm so proud of Camillo and Brian for having their work be recognized," said Michael O'Loughlin, NCR executive editor. "We strive to report on issues that affect human dignity and the common good, and these stories are emblematic of the excellent journalism for which NCR is known."
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