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MARY DETURRIS POUST

Good Things Come in Threes

During this challenging summer, we have a little burst of good news to share with you. The diocesan Office of Communications won three First Place Catholic Press Association awards during the virtual version of the annual Catholic Media Conference earlier this month.

Here’s what we won and what the judges had to say:

Best Use of Social Media for Breaking News: First Place, “Honored to Serve"
Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, Diocese of Albany Communications Office and Mary DeTurris Poust, Communications Director

This award was for the Diocese of Albany's coverage of the Buffalo news conference during which Bishop Scharfenberger was announced as the new Apostolic Administrator of that diocese.

“The Diocese of Albany showed preparation and resourcefulness when they needed to quickly break news about their leadership. These social media posts showed strong use of video, including live video on Facebook Live, and covered a range of platforms. They also had strong engagement from their audience.”

Best Use of Photos in Social Media: First Place, “A Day in the Life of a Seminarian in the Eternal City”
Diocese of Albany Communications Office and Matthew Duclos

“The first-place entry rose to the top of a relatively weak category. Having the individual take over the Instagram account was a really creative way to show content not normally seen. It also increased engagement to a whole new audience. And it was fun!”

Best Diocesan Pastoral Message — Letter: First Place, “This Is My Body”
Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger, Diocese of Albany Communications Office, and Kathryn Costello, Designer

“Excellent writing and narrative development. Clear, concise and engaging messaging makes this product highly effective. Extremely well designed with professional media and layout concepts.”

We love what we do here in the diocesan Communications Office, and we love when others collaborate with us. A special shout out to seminarian Matt Duclos for his willingness to take over our Instagram account and chronicle a day of his life in Rome. It was such a treat, made even more special by this first-place award.

Let us know when you spot something on our social media feed that resonates with you. Maybe we'll enter your favorite in the awards program next year.