It's not a question of "awkward."  It's a question of cohesion.  Is the "because" clause old information (i.e., given information, known to the reader) or is it new, the purpose of the sentence? 

Quite often the "because" information is the purpose of the sentence, so it belongs in the predicate--i.e., at sentence end.  However, if it's the connection to what has gone before (given information), then it should not have the prominence that sentence-end provides. 

Martha Kolln