"We don't win awards"...

The Amateur Catholic B-Team blog has been inactive for some time, but I always was rather proud of their very accurate slogan: "We don't write books or do speaking tours. In fact, we barely do our jobs."

Actually, I am glad that one of the pre-requisites for membership is not "We don't win awards", because I just did.

Trusting that it is okay to blow one's own trumpet on one's own blog (no-one is forcing you to read this self-serving palava, you know), I will just mention in passing that the editor of Kairos entered my article on Phillip Pullman's Golden Compass ("Some very Dark Materials") for the annual Australasian Religious Press Association (ARPA) (they don't have a website, so I can't link them).

Turns out it won the "Gold Award" in the category "best review of another medium". The review was of the trilogy of Philip Pullmans "Dark Materials" novels. I still haven't seen the film, but perhaps it is time to get it out of the video shop (my daughters - somewhat more up-to-date than I, call it the DVD shop) and take a look.



Here are the Judges comments for this area.

Best review of another medium

Gold Award: The Golden Compass Some very dark materials - David Schutz
Kairos Catholic Journal Nov – Dec 2007
I found this review to be very strong. It contained everything I want to see in a review – background facts as well as the writer’s thoughts – but also some real and intelligent feelings and beliefs. Needless to say, I also found this movie very disturbing!

Silver Award: ‘J K Rowling – a 21st Century CS Lewis?’ – Dean Spalding
The Melbourne Anglican September 2007
I really enjoyed this intelligent take on the much-maligned Harry Potter. The writer brought out two good issues and thoroughly examined them, which was a nice surprise and very thought-provoking. Well done!

Bronze Award: ‘Religion stands accused’ – Jim Stuart
Touchstone July 2007
Another very strong piece – and one that examines the very pertinent issue of ‘anti-Christians’. However, there were too many books reviewed in this one article for it to give such an issue real justice. I would have also liked to have seen more of the writer’s own feelings/opinions on this issue.

Highly Commended: ‘Out of the Blue’ – Steve Taylor
Touchstone February 2007
I thought this piece brought out all the lovely elements of New Zealand – it was quite beautiful! I would have liked to have seen less questions and more answers though. And also more Christian input throughout the piece, instead of only at the end.

Highly Commended: ‘Three Gates to Paradise: Articles and Reflections’ – Marjorie Lewis-Jones
Insights March 2007
I really liked this piece. The wrire clearly had a big attachment to the book, but not so strong that she allowed herself to become too sentimental. Instead, she used some great, stand-out lines and phrases. Well done!

General

All in all, I was impressed with the quality of the reviews – only a few were left in my “very poor” pile and in the end it was very difficult to chose between my top three winners! But these winners stood out because they had something new and intelligent to say and they didn’t simply give the reader a basic rundown of the storyline. Well done to these winners!