70th Annual Christopher Award Winners Highlight Empathy, Faith, And Loving Your Neighbor

Creators of films, TV programs and books to be honored on May 23rd

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Apr 09, 2019, 10:32 ET

NEW YORK, April 9, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Mark Wahlberg's pro-foster parenting comedy Instant Family, Season Two of Returning the Favor, Mike Rowe's Facebook series celebrating community volunteers, and The Sun Does Shine, Anthony Ray Hinton's memoir about being an innocent man sentenced to death row, are among the 20 winning feature films, TV/Cable programs, and books for adults and young people that will be honored at the 70th annual Christopher Awards in New York City on May 23, 2019.

The Christopher Awards were created in 1949 to celebrate writers, producers, directors, authors and illustrators whose work "affirms the highest values of the human spirit" and reflects the Christopher motto, "It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness."

"The stories we're honoring move us toward getting in touch with 'the better angels of our nature,' to use Abraham Lincoln's term," said Tony Rossi, The Christophers' Director of Communications. "They highlight the power of community and common purpose, the positive difference that love and perseverance can make in the lives of the lost or lonely, and the struggle to find God's presence and light, even in the darkest of circumstances."

Winners in the various categories are:

TV & Cable

ABC News 20/20: One Way Out: Thailand Cave Rescue dives into the death-defying teamwork and courage it took to successfully save the lives of 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped in a complex network of flooded caves last summer. When an armed, mentally ill young man entered a Georgia school in 2013 and threatened to kill all the children, the school's empathetic bookkeeper used kindness to convince him to surrender peacefully in the riveting dramatization Faith Under Fire: The Antoinette Tuff Story (Lifetime). The Homeless Chorus Speaks (PBS) chronicles the life-changing work of San Diego musicians Nina Deering and Steph Johnson, who formed a choir made up of homeless people, giving them a sense of fellowship and hope. Blending historical narrative with contemporary patient stories, The Mayo Clinic: Faith, Hope, Science (PBS) details the partnership between the Mayo family and the Sisters of St. Francis in 1883 that led to the creation of an institution world-renowned for medicine, compassion, and spirituality. Mike Rowe highlights America at its best as he travels throughout the country to profile and reward volunteers who are working to impact their communities in positive ways in Returning the Favor: Season Two (Facebook Watch).

Feature Films

A mother's unyielding commitment to saving her 19-year-old son from the scourge of opioid addiction is tested when he returns home from rehab, only to face unexpected temptations and dark elements of his past in Ben is Back (Lionsgate). Inspired by writer/director Sean Anders' own experience, Instant Family (Paramount Pictures) comedically explores the joys and heartaches faced by a couple who take in three foster children as they slowly bond and come to love each other. As Nero persecutes and executes all Christians in Rome, Saints Luke and Paul courageously struggle to live out the Gospel of Jesus in ways that model forgiveness and love that stems from a divine source in Paul, Apostle of Christ (AFFIRM Films/Sony Pictures). Won't You Be My Neighbor? (Focus Features) documents the enduring lessons of kindness, empathy, and respect that former Christopher Award winner Fred Rogers embodied and passed on to children through his PBS series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood for more than 30 years.

Books for Adults

In Everything Happens for a Reason: and Other Lies I've Loved (Random House), 35-year-old Kate Bowler struggles to make sense of her diagnosis with incurable cancer and comes to a new understanding of the ways that God can be found in life's brokenness. David W. Blight's Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom (Simon & Schuster) presents the definitive biography of the escaped slave whose writings and orations about the evils of slavery turned him into an influential champion of human liberty. With humor and honesty, the overly self-reliant Jennifer Fulwiler learns to embrace the chaos and joy of raising six kids, pursuing career goals, and accepting help from the people God puts in her life in One Beautiful Dream (Zondervan/Harper Collins). In The Strange Case of Dr. Couney (Blue Rider Press/Penguin Random House), Dawn Raffel reveals the unknown story of the man who set up incubators at sideshows in Coney Island and Atlantic City in the early 1900s, saved the lives of thousands of premature babies, and revolutionized neonatal care. In The Sun Does Shine (St. Martin's Press), Anthony Ray Hinton (with Lara Love Hardin) chronicles the racism that sent him to death row for 30 years for a murder he didn't commit, the spiritual transformation that led him to become a force for good for his fellow inmates, and how he was finally exonerated in 2015.

Books for Young People

In the competitive world of talking school supplies, where Pencil and Glue get all the glory, Eraser feels unappreciated until she realizes her critical role in creating second chances in Eraser by Anna Kang, illustrated by New Yorker cartoonist Christopher Weyant (Preschool and up, Two Lions/Amazon Publishing). As they enjoy the great outdoors and a trip to the zoo, a brother and sister come to appreciate God's blessings in the beauty of creation and simple wonders of the world in The World is Awake by Linsey Davis with Joseph Bottum, illustrated by Lucy Fleming (Kindergarten and Up, Zonderkidz/Harper Collins). Inspired by author Jessica Kensky's experiences after the Boston Marathon bombing, Rescue and Jessica, co-authored by Patrick Downes and illustrated by Scott Magoon (ages 6 and up, Candlewick Press), explores the special friendship that forms between a young woman, who is a double amputee, and the service dog who reignites her joy for life.

Olivia wishes she could fix her brother Jacob's autism, but adventures involving an ostrich named Ethel and a search for a missing toy lead her to see him and their relationship in a different light in The Ostrich and Other Lost Things by Beth Hautala (ages 8 and up, Philomel Books/Penguin Young Readers Group). To the Moon by Jeffrey Kluger with Ruby Shamir (ages 10 and up, Philomel Books/Penguin Young Readers Group) revisits the thrilling story of Apollo 8 and the teamwork, courage, and human ingenuity it took to send a crewed spaceship around the moon for the first time. When a comic book-loving sixth grader is goaded into illegal activities by a new friend, he looks to his heroes, both real and fictional, to help him deal with peer pressure and do what is right in Tight by Torrey Maldonado (young adult, Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin Young Readers Group).

The Christophers, a nonprofit founded in 1945 by Maryknoll Father James Keller, is rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition of service to God and humanity. The ancient Chinese proverb—"It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness"— guides its publishing, radio, and awards programs. More information available at www.christophers.org. To share, use #Christopher Awards.

CONTACT: David Reich, 212 573-6000, [email protected]

SOURCE The Christophers