The Catholic Media Association (CMA), a Chicago-based organization of publishers and media professionals, recently concluded its annual conference, held this year in Phoenix, Arizona. Saint Vincent Archabbey’s magazine, Saint Vincent Monks, garnered two national awards, and a book written by Father Tom Acklin and produced by Archabbey Publications, also received an award. The 2025 awards are for work produced in the previous calendar year.
Saint Vincent Monks magazine, designed and edited by Kim Metzgar, received a third place award for Magazine/Newsletter of the Year—Religious Order Magazines and Print Newsletters. The judges noted that “the piece is thorough, interesting, well written and well designed.”
The summer 2024 issue’s cover, “Monks on a Mission,” illustrated by Metzgar, received an honorable mention behind Northwest Catholic, Kairos Global Magazine and U.S. Catholic.
A reprint and redesign of The Passion of the Lamb: God’s Love Poured Out In Jesus, written by Father Tom Acklin, O.S.B. and designed by Archabbey Publications, received a second-place honor in the category Scripture—Popular Studies. The judges noted that the book “is well written and thoroughly researched. The reflections are inspiring and offer practical utility. It comes highly recommended.” It is the sixth book award for Archabbey Publications, with design and production by Metzgar.
Two books by Saint Vincent Seminary alumni also received honors in the book awards component of the competition. Father Richard Infante, S’92, received a third place in the book awards for Fiction Short Story Collections for his book Honeymoon and Other Pilgrimage Stories. The judges noted that “Infante takes the theme of pilgrimage very broadly, allowing him to tackle stories that might not traditionally fit that mold but still deserve telling. Each story manages to be relatable while still tackling a number of difficult topics relevant to contemporary Catholic life.”
Dr. Matthew Minerd, C’06, who studied at Saint Vincent Seminary, received a third place award for Religious Book Series. The award for the book produced by Ascension Classic Christian texts, is for work on Story of a Soul: The Autobiography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux. The Catholic Classics series includes new translations of texts to assist in understanding and appreciation of well-known spiritual classics. Minerd has translated or assisted in the translations of dozens of books, many of which are on his website matthewminerd.com.
This is the twelfth consecutive year in which the monks’ magazine has received national CMA honors and the magazine’s nineteenth award. Formerly known as Heart to Heart, the publication also earned CMA awards for general excellence, religious order magazine, second place in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2023 and 2024; third place in 2017, 2016, 2015, 2021 and 2022; best cover in 2014, third place, for the Saint Vincent Fire cover designed by Jordan Hainsey; first place recognition for Best Feature Article, Religious Order Magazines in 2024 and third place recognition in 2014 and 2024; honorable mention, Best Layout of an Article or Column—National General Interest Magazine in 2024; and a third place in 2006, for the best issue on the papal transition.
Other book awards for work by Metzgar and her staff for various projects from CMA include Always Forward: A History of Saint Vincent Archabbey, 1949-2020, which received a third place award in 2021; and a 2006 CMA book award for design and production for Saint Vincent Basilica: 100 Years, in addition to awards for her editorial work on So We Do Not Lose Heart, a 2018 winner for “backlist beauty,” and on book award winners, Renewed Each Morning (2016), and The Sunday Homilies (2015).
Metzgar, of Derry, has bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Seton Hill University, and has managed the Archabbey and Seminary Communications Office since 1997.
The CMA is made up of 364 member organizations, consisting of more than 900 mission-driven professionals. There were 3,125 submissions this year in divisions for magazines, newspapers and books, among others.
