Cristo Para Todos among programs to receive Gabriel Award for showing ‘true’ humanity

“Cristo Para Todos – Christ for All,” the Diocese of Trenton’s Spanish-language television show, was among the “best of the best” programs honored during the 51st annual Gabriel Awards June 2 at the Catholic Media Conference in St. Louis, Mo. It was CPT’s second Gabriel Award in as many years.

The Gabriel Awards, sponsored by the Catholic Academy of Communications Professionals, honor excellence in film, video, audio and internet, and were given at the conference banquet to top producers, acknowledging outstanding artistic achievement in media that entertains and enriches with a true vision of humanity.

Cristo Para Todos was awarded for its episode, “Inmigración: Visión Cristiana” (“Immigration: Christian Vision”), in the category of “Religious, National or Local Release. The episode features an interview with Adan Pacheco, who as a 10-yearold, entered the United States with little more than the hope and love of his family to sustain him. He and his mother and little sister journeyed from San Miguel del Puerto in the southwestern Mexican state of Oaxaca, through the Arizona desert on foot. Later, they took a stifling ride in a van to family already settled in Freehold.

Now, Adan is a graduate of Freehold Boro High School and is continuing his studies at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft. He also works as an immigration advocate for Catholic Charities in Ocean County. Learn more about the award-winning episode, here.

“Our goal is to recognize the best in creativity and programming that reflects the wonderful achievements of humanity,” said Susan Wallace, this year’s Chair of the Gabriel Awards. “Gabriel Award honorees are recognized as leaders in reaching out to audiences. The winners are communicators of truth and beauty.

“Entrants go through a highly selective process of preliminary screening and blue-ribbon judging, which includes judging in values, content, creativity, artistic quality, technical quality and impact. By maintaining high standards, the Academy is able to reward media professionals for outstanding work that might otherwise not be recognized for its enrichment value.”

Two individual awards also were presented. The first – the President’s Medallion Award, the Catholic Academy’s highest membership honor – recognizes lifetime achievement and service. The 2016 award honored the late Mother Angelica, founder and former CEO of EWTN, now the largest Catholic media network in the world.

The second – the Clarion Award, recognizes individuals for “good work well done recently” in Catholic communications – was presented to Helen Osman, former Chief Communications Officer of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and now an independent consultant for strategic planning and implementation. She was honored for coordinating hundreds of volunteers to serve as a media support team for Pope Francis’ visit to the United States last year. Osman is the only person to have received this honor twice.

Sponsored by Family Theater Productions of Hollywood, the Personal Achievement Award was given to Vin Scully, the voice of baseball’s Dodgers, both in Brooklyn and Los Angeles, for 67 years. He is one of the most recognized and respected announcers in sports and has worked on all of the major networks during his long career. Scully publically credits his strong Catholic faith with sustaining him through nearly seven decades of baseball announcing and the devastating loss of loved ones. He is retiring at the end of this baseball season.

You can see a complete list of winners, here. For more information, visit GabrielAwards.org.