Catholic Review was awarded the Best Move of 2022 for its redesign and rebranding, which was the result of study, consultation and months of preparation before the launch of the new look in September 2022.

This award is chosen by the viewers of the MDDC Contest broadcast.  The Best Moves category asks “what was the most important thing your organization did during the contest year?”  Ideas implemented could come from any area of the business, and nominee interviews are recorded with video for judging.

In fall 2021, Catholic Review Media and the Archdiocese of Baltimore contracted with Simpson Scarborough, a marketing and branding agency, to gather feedback from readers. Given the movement in media toward digital – including some dioceses that have moved to all-digital news operations – part of the reason for the survey was to consider whether it was still feasible and effective to have a print edition.

The results were generally positive and affirming that a print magazine was the right choice. The redesign required the staff to look at stories in bold, new ways, with sidebars, callouts and other graphic elements, and a new marketing tagline emerged: “Real Life. Real Faith.”

The new look launched with the September 2022 edition, along with ongoing discussions and public-facing events to talk about better ways to reach Catholic Review readers.

See the video interview on the Catholic Review’s Best Move

Honorable Mention – Nominees

The Baltimore Sun

From the submission letter, The Baltimore Sun’s Best Move was:

“To bring light to The Sun’s role in oppression of Black Marylanders throughout the paper’s history, The Sun outlined, in a deeply researched editorial, the paper’s offenses, going back to its inception in 1837 and the process the paper has undergone in the past and today to build an inclusive future in its pages. The Sun is not the first newspaper to apologize for failing black communities through the years, and we hope we will not be the last. It was the most significant move we made in 2022 to reconnect to the communities we serve and ensure that the interests of all residents are respected and represented within our pages.”

See the video interview on the Baltimore Sun’s Best Move

The Frederick News-Post

From the submission letter, The Frederick News-Post’s Best Move was:

“An exciting thing for ­e Frederick News-Post in 2022 was bringing back our arts and entertainment guide, 72 Hours, to a standalone weekly tab once again. When covid happened, ­e News-Post did many things to save on costs overall and one of those was eliminating 72 Hours as a separate publication. Instead it was moved into the regular paper. So the possibility of bringing it back after two years to a standalone publication was very exciting for us as well as our local community.”

See the video interview on the Frederick News-Post’s Best Move