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The Catholic creators of Ascension Presents are celebrating a major milestone after reaching one million subscribers on YouTube. In honor of this achievement, which is the product of nearly 10 years of work, Ascension is launching a brand new awards program that will celebrate other Catholic content creators.
It’s not surprising that Ascension Presents reached this landmark, as it is the company responsible for the monumentally successful Bible in a Year and Catechism in a Year podcasts, both of which are hosted by Fr. Mike Schmitz.
Fr. Schmitz was actually the subscriber who pushed Ascension over the edge, after he unsubscribed and resubscribed when the number was at around 999,997.
In a press release, Ascension took a look at some of its biggest videos:
- 1st channel video (2015): “Pizza, Bromance, and Your Mom” (Fr. Mike Schmitz)
- Most popular video (6.5M views): “Pray with Us: The Chaplet of Divine Mercy” (Fr. Mark-Mary Ames, CFR and Fr. Pierre Toussaint, CFR)
- Fr. Mike Schmitz’s most popular video (3.1M views): “Why Be Catholic and Not Just Christian?”
- Fr. Mike Schmitz’s video with the most 1-day views (358k): “The Bible in 10 Minutes”
- Video with the most virality on social media: “The Sisters of Life Answer the Internet’s Top Questions About Nuns” (over 4 million views on all social media channels)
Ascension further honored their creative teams with a brief video that highlighted some of the biggest moments of the last decade. The nostalgic walk down memory lane concludes with a brief message to their viewers:
“From all of us here at Ascension Presents, we want to take this moment to thank you. All 1 million of you.”
Awards program
In honor of reaching one million subscribers, Ascension Presents is launching a new awards program that will help to strengthen the bonds of the Catholic creator community, as well as honor the achievements of other creators. Called the Ascension “Truth and Beauty” Awards for Catholic Content Creators, the awards will be determined by a panel of Ascension’s creators, including Fr. Schmitz.
Winning creators will be given a $500 prize to help them upgrade their gear or software to help them make the best possible content for their platform, as well as receiving all the press and social media coverage that Ascension can give. There are currently two categories which are accepting submissions: Videos that are between 0 – 90 seconds (think TikTok or Reels) and videos between 90 seconds – 12 minutes (think YouTube).
All submissions must be made before midnight on December 31, 2024. Learn more about the criteria for submissions and submit your favorite creator for an award from Ascension Presents today.