The International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ) and the Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII (FSCIRE) announced the winners of first edition of the Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award. The international jury also awarded one special mention.

Journalist Federica Tourn was the first winner of the Piazza Grande Award, which was
launched in 2019 by the International association of Religion Journalists (IARJ) and the
Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII (FSCIRE) to encourage best practices in
journalism and honor the work of journalists covering religion and spirituality.
In this interview by Jelena Jorgačević she tell us how she started reporting on religion and what it means to be a female journalist covering religion.

ALERT for journalists across Europe and around the Mediterranean basin that the deadline for the second Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award is now extended to May 15, 2023. This column also has links to the entry page, contest details and answers to frequently asked questions.

Applications are open for the second edition of the Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award. Journalists covering religion, faith and spirituality in both mainstream and confessional media – newspapers, magazines or news websites – that publish regularly in Europe, including Iceland and Russia, and the countries surrounding the Mediterranean basin are invited to submit their works by April 15, 2023.

The IARJ’s Douglas Todd reports on discussions at the latest International Center for Law and Religion Studies conference, held in Cordoba, Spain, at which representatives of the IARJ also participated.

During the International Association of Religion Journalists’ conference in Cordoba, Spain, on Sept. 22-23, Douglas Todd was inducted into the global organizations Hall of Fame by executive director Peggy Fletcher Stack.

An IARJ global conference in Cordoba, Spain, reminds our colleague Martin Davis of the creative change that lies at the core of what we think of as our religious traditions.

In our continuing series of profiles of IARJ leaders, Jelena Jorgačević talks with Douglas Todd about the challenges of covering religion in Serbia.

In our fourth global discussion about religion and politics, IARJ members from Europe discuss current challenges journalists face in navigating political and religious forces in their countries. Joining moderator Jelena Jorgacevic are Georgia Geleoudi, a religion blogger covering Greece and Cyprus; Hendro Munsterman, Vatican and Rome Correspondent for the Dutch daily newspaper Nederlands Dagblad; and Jonah Mandel, an IARJ founding member and a correspondent in Israel for the French news agency AFP.

As the IARJ’s co-managing director, based in Italy, Elisa Di Benedetto reports on the Vatican’s leading role in trying to motivate faith-related institutions and communities around the world to focus on the global crisis in caregiving for the world’s elderly.