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

Awards Standards
The St. Francis de Sales Award of the Catholic Press Association shall be given to the person who, in the preceding year or during the years of his/her journalism career, while on the staff of or as a contributor to a periodical which is a member of the Catholic Press Association, has performed the work of Catholic journalism either in general (for example, managing or editing a periodical) or in particular (for example, reporting) with such overall excellence or such originality or initiative, judged by that work's proper technical, intellectual, and practical-moral standards, as by his/her example to have contributed to raising the measure of performance of Catholic journalists, or to the development of new and more effective practices.

Who May Make a Nomination
Anyone engaged in the professional editorial, advertising, circulation, or management work of a member of the Catholic Press Association shall be considered qualified to nominate one person each year for the St. Francis de Sales Award, so long as he/she signs the nomination, designates his/her staff position, and identifies the organization for which he/she works. An individual may submit his/her own name for nomination or be nominated by others. Where necessary, enclose exhibits as reasons for nominating. In case of article, series, story, book, photograph, etc., please give date of publication, publisher, etc.

Who You Should Nominate
There are a number of dedicated journalists in the Catholic press who meet the criteria and deserve to be recognized and honored by their peers. Please be specific when describing the qualities of the person that you nominate so the members of the final selection committee (the five most recent recipients of the St. Francis de Sales Award) will have a clear understanding of the contribution your nominee has made to the Catholic press. Once these finalists are chosen, ballots will be sent to CPA Members to vote for this year's recipient of the St. Francis de Sales Award. The St. Francis de Sales Award is presented every year at the Catholic Media Convention.