The Rev. Robert F. Griffin, C.S.C., Award - 2011: Mr. Brian Doyle '78

2011: Mr. Brian Doyle '78

The Rev. Robert F. Griffin, CSC, Award was established by the Alumni Board in 2003 to recognize outstanding accomplishments or achievements in writing. 

The 2011 Griffin Award was presented to Mr. Brian Doyle ’78.

The Notre Dame Alumni Association is pleased to honor Brian Doyle ’78 with the Rev. Robert F. Griffin, C.S.C., Award for outstanding journalistic accomplishments. Since 1991, Mr. Doyle has edited the University of Portland’s Portland Magazine, which has been named the best university magazine in America by Newsweek, and the best spiritual magazine in America (by Utne Reader). Mr. Doyle also edited The Best Catholic Writing series from Loyola Press, and of God Is Love, a collection of the best spiritual essay from Portland Magazine.

Mr. Doyle is the author of 10 books: five essay collections, two works of nonfiction, two collections of poetry, and a project he deems a “vast sprawling epic labyrinthine elephantine” novel Mink River, just published by Oregon State University Press. His work has appeared in the annual Best American Essays, Best Science & Nature Writing, and Best Spiritual Writing anthologies, and in periodicals including The Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Orion, Commonweal, The New York Times, The Times of London, and Notre Dame Magazine.

Among Mr. Doyle’s awards and honors are the Christopher Award, the Catholic Press Association Book Award, and the American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His books have four times been finalists for the Oregon Book Award.