The Bethlehem Press was the big winner in the 2014 Professional Keystone Press Awards, receiving the coveted Sweepstakes award over other Pennsylvania newspapers entered in Division VII for newspapers with circulation of 5,000 and under.

The Sweepstakes honors a newspaper winning the most number of awards in its division. The East Penn Press, which is in its 54th year of publication, is a previous Keystones Sweepstakes winner.

Also, a big Division VII winner in the Lehigh Valley Press group of weekly newspapers was Whitehall-Coplay Press, receiving eight Keystone awards in the annual Pennsylvania newspaper journalism contest.

Recipients will be honored at the Keystone Press Awards Banquet during the Pennsylvania Press Conference, May 31, The Penn Stater, State College.

George Taylor is editor of The Bethlehem Press, which was launched in October 2005.

"The publishers are very happy to congratulate all of our Keystone Press Award winners. We are especially proud of the Bethlehem Press staff led by our editor George Taylor for achieving the Sweepstakes award," said Scott Masenheimer, Publisher of The Press Weekly Newspaper Group, which includes the East Penn Press, Salisbury Press, Parkland Press, Northwestern Press, Whitehall-Coplay Press, Catasauqua Press and Bethlehem Press newspapers and web sites.

"It singles them out as the best weekly newspaper in the state for Division VII in the 2014 Keystone contest. That is an outstanding accomplishment.

"The editors of our group of eight weekly newspapers and their staffs do a very good job of bringing quality local news coverage week after week to our readers. We congratulate and thank every one of them for the work they perform," Masenheimer said.

The Bethlehem Press received 11 Keystone awards for work published in 2013:

Bernie O'Hare, First Place, Investigative Reporting;

Jason Rehm, First Place, Column;

Staff, Second Place, Special Project;

Bud Cole, Honorable Mention, Sports-Outdoors Columns;

Paul Willistein, Second Place, News Feature Story; First Place, Headline Writing;

Nate Jastrzemski, First Place, Business or Consumer Story;

Carol Smith, Second Place, Business or Consumer Story;

Karen Samuels, Honorable Mention, Feature Beat Reporting;

Linda Anthony, First Place, Photo Story; and

Ed Courrier, First Place, Graphics- Illustration.

The Whitehall-Coplay Press eight Keystone awards included:

Whitehall-Coplay Press Editor Johanna S. Billings, receiving six Keystones, the most of any on the Press newspapers staff: Second Place, Investigative Reporting; Second Place, Ongoing News Coverage; First Place, Series; Second Place, Feature Story; Honorable Mention, Feature Photo; Second Place, Headline Writing;

Joseph Asbury, Second Place, Feature Photo; and

Mark Reccek, Second Place, Column.

The Catasauqua Press received one Keystone award:

Paul Cmil, Honorable Mention, Series.

The Keystone Press Awards are intended to reinforce excellence by individuals in the newspaper profession by recognizing journalism that consistently provides relevance, integrity and initiative in serving readers, and faithfully fulfills its First Amendment rights-responsibilities. Further, the Keystone Press Awards stimulate journalists to improve their craft and ultimately improve their community.