David Briggs presents a Hall of Fame award to IARJ co-founder Maria-Paz Lopez. Endy Bayuni and Douglas Todd stand near her. (PHOTOS with this story by Elisa Di Benedetto
DURING ONE OF OUR 3 CONFERENCES IN 2019: David Briggs presents a Hall of Fame award to IARJ co-founder Maria-Paz Lopez at our Salt Lake City (USA) conference. Endy Bayuni and Douglas Todd stand near her. (Photo by Elisa Di Benedetto

APRIL 2020—The International Association of Religion Journalists (IARJ) is proud to announce that we have formed a new board effective immediately.

Here is a complete list of our Board of Directors, Staff and Regional Representatives.

In such an urgent time, when journalists are often taking risks to report unprecedented stories about the power religious faith has to shape the world, our organization is reorganizing, said Douglas Todd, chair of the IARJ board. We are finding more ways to keep pace with the challenges of supporting, learning from and encouraging our hundreds of member-colleagues around the globe, many of whom work under difficult conditions.

Our board reflects the international character of the association, including gender and religious diversity. The new board is committed to our noble mission of ensuring best practices for journalists in reporting and writing about religion and spirituality. That commitment, made at the IARJ founding conference in Bellagio, Italy, in 2012, remains unchanged.

It’s an honor to announce the IARJ’s new line-up of board members, including intrepid journalists from Sri Lanka, Israel, Nigeria, Norway and India, said Todd. These individuals represent the efforts of the many top journalists in the IARJ who are dedicated to impartially covering all aspects, positive and negative, of religion and its impact on society. At the same time, we want to thank those members who are rotating off our board for their long and inspiring service. They will continue to work with the IARJ in different ways.

The new board is already working on organizing conferences and training workshops in various parts of the world, mainly focusing on 2021. We have scaled back our in-person activities for 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, our three, in-person conferences were: Bali (Indonesia), Warsaw (Poland) and in Salt Lake City (USA).

Meanwhile, we remain active online and in virtual consultations in 2020. We also plan to continue our work in selecting and awarding the Piazza Grande Religion Journalism Award for journalist based in Europe and in countries of the Mediterranean basin.

The new board has pledged to make the organization more active, not just by holding events, but also in communicating better with members around the world. We have appointed a number of our members to represent IARJ in the different regions of the world to better reflect the international character of the organization and also to be more in tune with the aspirations of our members in these different regions.

In the end, however, what is an organization without active participation from members? We will be counting on your support to carry out the mission, uphold the values and vision of the association. As we are reaching out to you through our website and social media, we look forward to receiving your feedback.

As journalists writing and reporting on religion, we have our work cut out in this increasingly more challenging world. Let’s work on this together through the IARJ.