MARGARET HOLNESS, the former education correspondent of the Church Times, was among 30 people presented with an award by the Archbishop of Canterbury last Friday.

At a ceremony at Lambeth Palace, Mrs Holness was awarded the Canterbury Cross for Services to the Church of England, “for sustained excellence as Education Correspondent of the Church Times for over twenty years”, the citation said.

During 27 years writing for the newspaper, the citation said, Mrs Holness had “worked closely with the National Society and the Church of England Board of Education to promote the cause and quality of Church of England schools and to make widely known within the Church and beyond the massive contribution that Church of England schools make to our national life.

“Although willing to write critically about any initiative of the Church’s (or often, lack of initiative) of which she was under-impressed, she was a quiet champion of church schools, and took delight in detecting” misinformation “whenever it surfaced from one innocent-sounding organisation or another. Her phenomenal memory enabled her to compare the latest government promises with their previous pledges, often to their disadvantage.”

Other recipients of awards included the founder of Christians Against Poverty, John Kirkby, and Imam Mohammed Mahmoud, who prevented violence against the driver who ran down pedestrians in Finsbury Park last year.

Full list of recipients, below.

AT A ceremony at Lambeth Palace on 6 April, the Archbishop of Canterbury presented the following awards for service in different fields:

The Alphege Award for Evangelism and Witness: the Revd Janet Knox; Prebendary Richard (Dick) Lucas; Dr Anne Richards; Canon Roger Simpson.

The Canterbury Cross for Services to the Church of England: Canon Rupert Bursell QC; Professor Michael Clarke; Prebendary John Collins; Margaret Holness; Andrew Nunn; Rona Orme.

The Cross of St Augustine for Services to the Anglican Communion: Christine Codner; Canon Grace Kaiso; Canon Joanna Udal.

The Hubert Walter Award for Reconciliation and Interfaith Cooperation: the President-Bishop of the Province of Jerusalem and the Middle East, Dr Mouneer Anis; the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler; Imam Mohammed Mahmoud; Chaudry Abdul Rashid; Dr Andrew Smith.

The Lambeth Cross for Ecumenism: Dr Renier Koegelenberg; the former Dean of St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, the Very Revd John Mann.

The Lanfranc Award for Education and Scholarship: Dr Paula Gooder; Professor Tom McLeish; the Most Revd Dr Robert Garshong Allotey Okine, the seventh Primate and Metropolitan Archbishop of the Church of the Province of West Africa and the first diocesan Bishop of Koforidua.

The Langton Award for Community Service: the Revd Elizabeth Baxter; Heather Black; John Kirkby; the Bishop of Derby, Dr Alastair Redfern.

The Thomas Cranmer Award for Worship: the Revd John Bell; Bernadette Farrell; Dr Geonyong Lee.