Awards Press Release
Creators of 21 films, TV programs, and books recognized for works that uplift the human spirit
76th ANNUAL CHRISTOPHER AWARD WINNERS CELEBRATE CAREGIVERS, EMPATHY, AND MORAL COURAGE
NEW YORK, April 3, 2025 - Moral courage, reaching your potential, and finding purpose in loving God and neighbor are some of the themes reflected in the 21 films, TV programs, and books for adults and young people being honored with Christopher Awards in the program’s 76th year. Winners include Steve Guttenberg (author, Time to Thank), Ted Danson (producer and lead actor, A Man on the Inside), Daisy Ridley (executive producer and lead actor, Young Woman and the Sea), and Jonathan Roumie (executive producer, Heart of a Servant).
The Christopher Awards 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.” Tony Rossi, The Christophers’ Director of Communications, said, “Our award-winning stories, both true and fictional, highlight people who have the odds stacked against them, but who face their challenges with faith and perseverance, allowing them to move through the darkness into the light and serve a higher purpose than themselves. These books, films, and TV programs don’t just engage and entertain; they teach, they heal, and they inspire.”
Winners in the various categories are:
Feature Films
In the biopic Cabrini (Angel Studios), Mother Frances Cabrini—the first American to be canonized a saint—faces down fierce anti-immigrant prejudice and political opposition to serve New York’s orphans and Italian immigrants living in poverty in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The documentary Heart of a Servant (Spirit Juice Studios) profiles the late Boys Town founder Father Edward Flanagan, who defied racist laws to protect abandoned and orphaned youth of all colors and creeds from the Great Depression through the aftermath of World War II and beyond. An intelligent but isolated nonverbal sixth grader with cerebral palsy takes the opportunity to pursue her untapped potential in mainstream education while also seeking friendships and using a new communication tool in Out of My Mind (Disney Plus).
Featuring several actors who were formerly incarcerated, Sing Sing (A24) looks at the ways that the maximum-security prison’s theater program—based on its real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program—allows inmates to connect with each other, develop their humanity, and emerge as better people. A Jewish grandmother reveals to her grandson her story of surviving the Holocaust thanks solely to the kindness, courage, and sacrifices of her disabled classmate and his family who hid her from the Nazis in occupied France during World War II in White Bird (Lionsgate). Young Woman and the Sea (Walt Disney Studios) dramatically interprets Trudy Ederle’s quest to become the first woman to swim the treacherous 21-mile English Channel in 1926, facing illness, the forces of nature, and a societal bias against women along the way.
TV, Cable, & Streaming
Bridging Divides: Sharing Heartbeats (PBS) highlights six organizations whose members are of different races, religions, or have contrasting ideologies, but who are united in their desire to engage with each other in a spirit of kindness and understanding. In A Dance in the Snow (Hallmark Mystery), a mother and her teenage daughter, who has high-functioning autism, face the girl’s desire to attend college across the country, while also navigating the challenges of planning a sensory-friendly high school dance that all students can enjoy. A retired professor’s undercover assignment in a retirement home culminates in the Season 1 finale of A Man on the Inside: The Spy Who Came in From the Cold (Netflix), which explores the loneliness that seniors encounter, the ways they can fill their lives with meaningful pursuits, and the necessity of forming bonds of friendship at any age.
Books for Adults
American Mother (Etruscan Press), by Colum McCann with Diane Foley, details the life, moral courage, and murder of Diane’s son, journalist James Foley, by terrorists in Syria, the ways her faith led her to work to free other American hostages overseas, and the grace she showed to one of her son’s killers. The high school football players at the California School of the Deaf use their so-called “disability” to their advantage in Thomas Fuller’s The Boys of Riverside (Doubleday/Penguin Random House), which chronicles the poverty, broken bones, and biases the team faced on its road to winning the state championship. Grounded in the wisdom and spiritual insight she gained following her sister’s death from cancer, Leanne Friesen’s Grieving Room (Broadleaf Books/1517 Media) presents an honest exploration of loss and the ways we can move through mourning to find new life.
When her teenage son faces both mental illness and addiction, Kristina Kuzmič discovers that traditional parenting advice doesn’t meet the moment, so she must take transformative new approaches to help guide her son to a better future in I Can Fix This (Viking/Penguin Random House). Hannah Rose Thomas’ Tears of Gold (Plough Publishing House) shares the artist and author’s portraits and interviews of Yazidi, Rohingya, and Nigerian women who fled war and violence, reminding us to see the sacredness of life in those enduring persecution. In Time to Thank (Post Hill Press/Simon & Schuster), veteran actor Steve Guttenberg shares his journey as a caregiver for his father, Stan, who suffered from kidney failure, while also looking back in gratitude at the ways his dad kept him grounded, humble, and feeling loved throughout his life.
Books for Young People
In Manoli the Greek Mouse by George Psomas, illustrated by Penny Serrano (Preschool and up, Mascot Books), the charming title character fears he does not have unique talents like his siblings, so he embarks on an adventure through his village in Greece in which he discovers that what sets him apart is his generous heart. Small Things Mended by Casey W. Robinson, illustrated by Nancy Whitesides (Kindergarten and up, Rocky Pond Books/Penguin Young Readers) centers on a lonely widower who begins fixing broken items for local children and their parents, thereby finding comfort and healing in community and intergenerational friendships. In a culture full of noises and distractions, a young girl perceives God’s voice in her soul encouraging her to get people to pay attention to all the wonderful things in the world in Grace Heard a Whisper by two-time Christopher Award winner Kathy Izard, illustrated by Aniella Ernández (ages 6 and up, Grace Press).
From Pharaoh’s connection with a porcupine fish to facing life’s storms with faith, Sister Orianne Pietra René Dyck, FSP, and illustrator Romi Caron’s Dive Deep: 40 Days with God at Sea (ages 8 and up, Pauline Books and Media) engagingly and humorously illuminates Scripture and helps kids encounter God through nature. After the trauma of personal loss and abuse in the foster care system, 11-year-old Hope finds a supportive foster mother who makes her feel loved, while also being pulled towards a reality star relative who may not have her best interests at heart in Johnna Stein’s Untangling Hope (young adult, Promise686). Two-time Christopher Award winner and Holocaust survivor Dr. Edith Eva Eger recalls her promising youth, the horrors she faced in the concentration camp, and how she overcame survivor’s guilt in order to live and love again in The Ballerina of Auschwitz (young adult, Atheneum/Simon & Schuster’s Children’s Publishing), written with Esmé Schwall.
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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. [Editors: A complete list of winners is available on request.]
