Gabriel Awards in Dayton, OH

Welcome to the Gabriel Awards home page!

Winners of the 2009 Gabriel Award competition will be announced in July.

The Gabriel Awards are designed to honor works of excellence in film, network and cable television and radio programs. These include, feature films and documentaries, entertainment and news programming, public service announcements, and stations which serve audiences through the positive, creative treatment of concerns to humankind. Categories for TV and radio include both English and Spanish language programs.

The single most important criterion of a Gabriel winning film or program is its ability to uplift and nourish the human spirit. A Gabriel-worthy film or program affirms the dignity of human persons; it recognizes and upholds universally-recognized human values such as community, creativity, tolerance, justice, compassion and the dedication to excellence.

Open to all Radio and Television Stations and Producers in the United States and Canada.

By sponsoring this annual awards competition, Catholic Academy hopes to encourage broadcasters and producers to produce films and programming that serve, enriche and challenge their audiences.

Catholic Academy Prayerfully Remembers
Ricardo Montalban and Andria Hall

The Catholic Academy extends sympathy to the families Ricardo Montalban and Andria Hall who died within three days of each other. Montalban, 88, died on January 14 of congestive heart failure. A veteran actor, born in Mexico, his elegance and charm made him a Hollywood favorite from his debut in the late 1940s. His career in radio and television spanned decades with his most memorable performances being Mr. Roarke in “Fantasy Island” and as the villainous “Khan” in the “Star Trek TV series in 1966 and reprising the role in the film “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan” in 1982. His last film roles were in the final two “Spy Kids” movies.

In 2000, Unda-USA's Board of Directors awarded Montalban with the Gabriel Personal Achievement Award, recognizing both his professional as well as his personal life and witness. Due to declining health, Montalban was unable to attend the award ceremony, but provided a video tape acceptance. He noted, that in accepting the award, “This honor I owe to the three most important influences in my life; my blessed parents, Georgianna, my wife and love of my life; and my Catholic faith which has always lifted me and guided me through the arduous road that brought me here before you.”

(View Montalban's acceptance. )

Sadly, two days earlier, Andria Hall, who co-hosted the 2003 Gabriel Awards, held in St. Louis, died at the age of 51, after a courageous two year battle with breast cancer. Hall was a veteran broadcast journalist, with positions at CNN, WNBC in New York and the Fox Network. She left the world of commercial broadcasting to begin her own media company, “SpeakEasy M.E.D.I.A. Foundation. She authored several books including The Walk to Work: Seven Steps to Spiritual Success on the Job and This Far by Faith: How to Put God First in Everyday Living. The daughter of a minister, who worked closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Hall served as host of “America at Worship,” the Faith and Values Media program that aired on the Hallmark Channel. She leaves a husband and three children.

Bob Schieffer recipient of the 2008 Gabrial Personal Achievment Award

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The Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals is grateful to the following sponsors of the 2008 Awards Presentation.

Archangel and Personal Achievement Award sponsor - Family Theater Productions

Guardian Angel sponsor - Odyssey Networks

Table sponsors - ABC Family; Bristol Bay Productions/Walden Media; Free to Choose Media; The Michael Wayne Family/Batjac Productions; MGill Productions, Inc.; Our Lady of Lourdes Parish; Salt + Light Television; and The Schmidt Family.