2024 St. Francis de Sales Award Finalists

The St. Francis de Sales Award is the highest award the Catholic Media Association presents to an individual for "outstanding contributions to Catholic journalism." Earlier this year, members of the Catholic Media Association were encouraged to nominate someone who, in the preceding year or throughout their career, performed with excellence and contributed to raising the professional standards of Catholic journalism.

Once the nominating period closed, a committee consisting of the previous five winners of the St. Francis de Sales Award selected up to three candidates to bring forward to CMA Membership for voting.

This year’s recipient is announced June 21 at the Catholic Media Conference in Atlanta, and presented with a bronze St. Francis de Sales statue to honor this momentous occasion.

Below are the 2024 Finalists for the St. Francis de Sales Award. Please choose both a first place and second place candidate. These scores are unweighted. The candidate with the most first place votes is the winner. In the event of a tie, second place votes are used to determine the winner.

Thank you for voting for this year's St. Francis de Sales Award. Voting closed April 10. The winner will be announced at this year's Catholic Media Conference.

Tom Dermody spent 43 at the Catholic Post in Peoria, joining the staff immediately out of college. He spent 32 years as editor of the newspaper, following stalwarts including Msgr. Robert G. Peters and Albina Aspell, both recipients of the St. Francis de Sales Award.
In a retirement profile, he told Jennifer Willems, “I wanted to use any gifts I have to give back to the Lord. The blessing was that it was a continuing education, not only in the things of the world, but in things of God.”

In Aspell’s nomination of Dermody for this award in 2016, she said, “The unique thing about Tom Dermody is that he never left; he stayed and made the Post his life’s work. Somehow by the grace of God, Tom literally ‘grew up’ with the paper, advancing in wisdom and age as he spent almost two decades covering stories as a reporter and photographer. Named editor/business manager in 1995, he put heart and soul into his new responsibilities, trimming the budget and working tirelessly to keep the paper self-supporting. First, Tom redesigned the Post, changing from broadsheet to tab, and added color. He opened a website … and added Facebook and Twitter to its electronic menu.”

Willems said, “Among the things I admire about Tom are his creativity and love for the faith. One of the ways he manifested that was moving beyond the concept of an annual subscription campaign to a stewardship campaign – the Delivering Unity Campaign.”
Dermody retired in 2022. The Diocese of Peoria announced the closure of the Catholic Post in January 2024, with the final edition dated Dec. 24, 2023.

For his faithfulness in bringing the Good News to the people of Peoria and his enthusiasm to share his gifts with colleagues in the Catholic press, Tom Dermody is nominated for the St. Francis de Sales Award.

Throughout her 40 years as a Catholic journalist, "Florida Catholic" editor Ana Rodriguez-Soto has been an exemplar of professionalism, dedication, and creativity in bringing the news to the Archdiocese of Miami. Retiring this year, this avid supporter and dedicated worker for the Catholic Media Association should be honored for her incredible work for the CMA and Catholic journalism.

As a high school senior in 1979, Ms. Rodriguez-Soto began working for the Archdiocese of Miami Spanish-language newspaper, "La Voz Catolica," as intern and interim editor. She never looked back.

Many CMA awards later, with an illustrious career, Ms. Rodriguez-Soto is one of the humblest, most joyful people I have ever met.

She has covered many stories and met many people: United Nations members, popes, and even saints, like Mother Teresa. She has served three archbishops, a half dozen auxiliary bishops, more than 100 parishes, and over 60 schools in the Archdiocese of Miami, making friends wherever she goes. She has lived through the Mariel Boatlift and the Surfside disaster, providing quality coverage on earth-shaking events.

On a personal note: I am very new to the field of journalism, having worked for a year for the "Florida Catholic," first as an intern and now as a freelancer. I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to learn from Ms. Rodriguez-Soto. 

She has taught me to have empathy for the people we encounter as journalists: "Humanity first. Journalism second. And it will flow." She's never too busy to listen or to instruct. Countless times, she has taken the time out of her busy days to personally walk me through the steps of how to write a good lede or teach me about camera ISO or shutter speed. She has this same consideration for everyone she works with and encounters.

Even though I have only known her for a short time, I can clearly see how much Ms. Rodriguez-Soto has impacted the community: everywhere I go, I have parishioners, freelancers, ministry members, and "Florida Catholic" readers telling me how much she will be missed. She is truly an inspiration and deserves to be recognized for her passion and tireless effort on behalf of Catholic journalism.

In a media environment in which ongoing change is our constant and competition for attention narrows our vision of our audience, there is someone who for five decades has led the Catholic communications community to see that the path to the future is forged by collaboration across media, across borders, across languages and across points of view.

From his work as a daily reporter and editor for 15 years before joining The Catholic Register, Canada’s national English Catholic weekly, as publisher and editor, as well as chair of Canadian Catholic News, a news-gathering cooperative, and then his service as the publishing director of Novalis, Canada’s largest Catholic publisher of books and missalettes, Joe Sinasac has demonstrated his commitment to journalism and religious publishing as the means to reach and faithfully impact Catholics in print, on air and online.

Sinasac understands that to be effective his view needed to encompass an expanding world. Among other assignments, covered the funeral of Mother Teresa in Calcutta in 1997, the visit of Pope John Paul II to Toronto for World Youth Day in 2002 and his funeral in Rome in 2005 and the visit of Pope Benedict to the United States in 2008. His words, voice, editorial perspectives were seen in his overseeing the publication, marketing and sales of new and backlisted books, the daily multi-language publication of the World Youth Day newspaper, WYD 2002, which came out daily during the event, his work as a correspondent for the French La Croix International online news service and his work as a regular commentator on Vatican Radio and Salt and Light TV, as well as his ongoing and frequent appearances on national television and radio to discuss all things Catholic.

And despite his tireless commitment to Catholic journalism and communications, Joe still has found the time and devoted the energy to be there to help make his colleagues better. He served for years on the CPA-CNS Liaison Committee, chaired the organizing committee for the annual Catholic Media Conference in 2008 as well as served on the committee for the CMC 2017 in Quebec City, led the CMA as a member of the board of the directors for 10 years and provided wise financial management as its treasurer for three terms, including the creation of a long-term ethically based investment fund. He also served as a member of the executive committee of the ecumenical Canadian Christian Communicators (formerly Canadian Church Press) and was involved in helping craft the CMA’s Fair Publishing Practices Code and its revision.

Through his decades-long service to the Catholic community, Joe Sinasac has demonstrated his commitment to the highest standards of journalism and has sought to deliver the Word in print, on air and online, embracing new opportunities to expand its reach to a world that needs it more than ever.