Moment Wins Top Honors from Religion News Association
This past weekend Moment magazine won big at the 77th annual Religion News Association conference in Atlanta, GA. Honored with The post Moment Wins Top Honors from Religion News Association appeared first on Moment Magazine.
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This past weekend Moment magazine won big at the 77th annual Religion News Association conference in Atlanta, GA. Honored with a handful of top awards, Moment was recognized for excellence for reporting on Christian Nationalism, the West Bank, Jewish heartthrobs and more.
Former NPR news correspondent and frequent Moment contributor Tom Gjelten’s cover story, “The New Christian Right, Antisemitism & U.S. Democracy,” (November/December 2025) received Second Place for Religion Story of the Year. (First place went to Jessica Morris of The Roys Report and Third Place went to Mike Hixenbaugh and Elizabeth Chuck of NBC News.) The judges—current and former journalists and journalism educators—had this to say:
Tom Gjelten’s first-class report on the cadre of pastors, podcasters and politicians who are promoting “Christian nationalism” manages to be both nuanced and downright scary. One of the more alarming trends he unearthed is a growing antisemitism among the more hard-core of these Christian “supremacists” on the right. Writing for Moment magazine, Gjelten knows how to tell just the right stories, has a deep knowledge of religion and is content to let the facts—rather than hyperbolic writing—power his profile of this movement seeking to change what it means to be an American.
Gjelten notes that many of the stories recognized by the RNA this year dealt, at least tangentially, with concerns about Christian nationalism, indicating how problematic the movement has become in recent years.
“The Moment audience has such a broad interest in issues of religion, politics and justice that I feel entirely at home there and feel my contributions are appreciated.”
Of course, journalism has expanded in the digital age, and the RNA also recognizes excellence in video reporting. In the category of Short Reports (documentaries or news reports 10 minutes or less in length), Moment Editor Sarah Breger and filmmaker Eli Katzoff won Third Place for the Moment Studios documentary A Protective Presence. (First place went to a team from PBS NewsHour and second place to an NBC News team.) Moment’s film follows Rabbi Arik Ascherman for 24 hours in the West Bank as he risks his own safety to protect Palestinians under threat from extremist settlers. “This story packed a punch,” the RNA judges said. “The vérité approach offered a much needed perspective on life in the West Bank. A nod to the storytellers and their willingness to tell this story under difficult conditions.”
The RNA also recognized young journalists with its Chandler Award for Excellence in Student Religion Reporting. Moment summer 2025 Editorial Intern Rachel Rosenfield, a recent Brandeis graduate, won third place for the pop-culture piece, “The Rise of the Jewish Heartthrob,” which the judges deemed an “impressive off-beat trend story with cultural and social grasp and writing chops in the hands of a talented reporter.”
Finally, Moment won Second Place (behind Sojourners) in the Religion Publication category. For consideration, publications submit up to three issues from the past year. In Moment’s case, the judges considered our 2025 Double Summer issue commemorating Moment’s 50th anniversary, and the November/December 2025 issue, featuring Gjelten’s award-winning story.
The Religion News Association (RNA) got its start in 1949, dedicated, as the history page on its website notes, to “raising the standards of religion newswriting in the secular world of newspapers, magazines, wire services, and news agencies.” In those early days, even as the religion beat was growing fast and journalism programs were paying attention, some editors demanded that a reporter had to be a member of a specific organized faith in order to cover it. That’s not the case today—one might cover multiple faith communities, as well as the ever-growing demographic of people who claim no religious affiliation, regardless of their own personal beliefs.
“Moment is directed to a largely Jewish audience,” Gjelten said in accepting the First Place award in the “Niche and Religious Audiences” category, also for his story on antisemitism and the new Christian Right.
“I’m not Jewish,” Gjelten told the approximately 130 banquet attendees. “But,” he continued, “the Moment audience has such a broad interest in issues of religion, politics and justice that I feel entirely at home there and feel my contributions are appreciated.” Quoting Editor-in-Chief Nadine Epstein’s testament that Moment is “committed to leaning into complexity at a time of simple narrative,” Gjelten said it was a sentiment he deeply shared.
Congratulations to all the Moment winners! And here’s to continuing to lead the Jewish conversation into the future.
The post Moment Wins Top Honors from Religion News Association appeared first on Moment Magazine.
