Catholic Press Association Recognizes Catholic Southwest With Two Awards

Catholic Southwest: A Journal of History and Cultureextended its notable history of award winning publications by picking up two third-place awards at the Catholic Press Association’s recent conference in Buffalo, New York. The publication won third place in the Best Cover category and Amanda Bresie’s article on the founding of Xavier University in New Orleans won third place in the competition for Best Essay Originating With A Scholarly Magazine.

The award-winning cover (see picture) features the 1955 illustrationOur Lady of Guadalupeby Helen Rand Parish, from the Jean Charlot Estate LLC.  The late Bill Bowers originally photographed the artwork. His photographic image was enhanced for publication as the cover ofCatholic Southwest 2014 (Volume 25)by Vanessa Hurst, Kevin Duffy, Glenda Carne, and Richard Fossey.

The Catholic Press Association also awarded Amanda Bresie for her essay”’You Are As Good As Anyone That Walks God’s Earth, and Never Forget It!’ The SBS Create the "Negro Notre Dame" in Jim Crow Louisiana”.  Her piece explores the establishment of Xavier University by St. Katherine Drexel and her Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament (SBS).  The college in New Orleans is “the only historically Black and Catholic school in the nation”.

Catholic Southwest: A Journal of History and Culturebegan as the newsletter of the Texas Catholic Historical Society.  It was originally called theTexas Catholic Historianand the award-winning publication grew into theJournal of Texas Catholic History and Culturein 1990.  The journal features essays on aspects of the Roman Catholic heritage in Texas and the Southwest, focusing not only on history, but the Catholic experience expressed through art, architecture, literature, music, and other related subjects.

The Catholic Archives of Texas, which operates under the auspices of the Texas Catholic Conference, hosts the complete twenty-five year archive of theCatholic Southwest: A Journal of History and Cultureonline atwww.CatholicArchivesOfTX.org.