I was blessed to attend and emcee the first ever CatholiCon this weekend. It was a lot of fun and it’s always inspiring to see Catholics coming together to brainstorm and learn about the best ways to share our Message with the world.

It was also a delight to meet so many new people and to shake the hands or share a meal with so many online friends. I even got to spend some time with some new media Catholics who are already becoming old friends now, too. I love these events.

The Catholic New Media Awards winners were also announced at a ceremony last night. And I’m pleased to say that the National Catholic Register took home some of the top prizes, winning “Best Group Blog” and “Best Overall Catholic Website.”

Congratulations to all of my fellow bloggers here at the Register! It humbles me everyday to be among such amazing writers and communicators of truth and light. I was happy to accept the extravagant trophy, prize money and praises on your behalf. I can assure you that I will put them to good use. I wasn’t able to video the acceptance speech, but it went a lot like this.

We also had some of our bloggers here at the Register win some awards individually.

Jennifer Fulwiler pretty much swept every possible category she was technically allowed to win with her Conversion Diary. She took first place in “Best Blog By A Woman,” “Best Written Blog,” “Most Spiritual Blog,” and “People’s Choice Blog.”

Simcha Fisher’s I Have to Sit Down took first place as “Funniest Blog.”

Pat and Matthew Archbold’s Creative Minority Report took 2nd prize in “Funniest Blog” and “People’s Choice Blog.”

And, finally, Mark Shea’s Catholic and Enjoying it won 2nd prize as “Best Blog By a Man.”

Congrats to all of you!

You can check out the full results from the Catholic New Media Awards here.