Representatives of The Press newspapers attended the annual Pennsylvania Media Association Keystone Press Awards Banquet in the Lancaster Marriott at Penn Square, Lancaster.

Lehigh Valley Press received 20 Professional Keystone Press Awards in the 2017 contest for work published in 2016.

Of the 20 awards received by The Press newspapers, the Bethlehem Press and its contributors received 17 Keystones. The Bethlehem Press received the Sweepstakes Award in its division for the fourth year in a row.

In addition to the Division VII Sweepstakes Award, which is based on the most number of awards and points won in a given division, Bethlehem Press Keystone awards included:

First Place, Column, Karen Samuels, This Week in Bethlehem history

First Place, Ongoing News Coverage, Zach Duffy, Nate Jastrzemski, Ed Courrier, George Taylor, for Synthetic turf installation

Second Place, Ongoing News Coverage, Staff, Bethlehem 275th anniversary

Honorable Mention, Ongoing News Coverage, Nate Jastrzemski, Ed Courrier, Just Born strike coverage

First Place, Special Project, Bernie O’Hare, Dana Grubb, Ed Courrier, Full court press

Second Place, Special Project, Paul Willistein, Student Poetry Project

First Place, Series, Carole Gorney, Sex trafficking in the Lehigh Valley

Second Place, Series, Bernie O’Hare, Gerrymandering: How our elections are really rigged

First Place, Sports Story, Katie McDonald, Wanted: A place to practice

First Place, News Feature Story, Bernie O’Hare, A church divided against itself

First Place, Personality Profile, Dorothy and Dennis Glew, The Western Front 1944

First Place, News Beat Reporting, Bernie O’Hare, Northampton County news beat

First Place, Feature Beat Reporting, Paul Willistein, Mary Wright Touchstone Theatre play interview, PSF season Patrick Mulcahy, Dennis Razze interviews; Elton John PPL Center concert review; Branford Marsalis interview; Jimmy Webb interview; Civic Theatre capital campaign

Honorable Mention, Photo Story-Essay, Tim Gilman, Awash in (Irish) green

First Place, Front Page Design, George Taylor, First Presbyterian, a church divided

First Place, Graphic-Photo Illustration, Ed Courrier, Names’ Gerry Mander

Other Keystones awards for Press newspapers included:

Second Place, Editorial, Parkland Press, Debra Palmieri, Parkland Press, Cops are people, too; You can have my heart, but only if you are white; Are companies becoming too large to care about their employees?

First Place, Sports-Outdoor column, Northampton Press, Bud Cole, Bud’s View, Take time to smell the wildflowers, Little Bear, Charcole & Blue: The pets that rescue us, ‘Not a creature was stirring’ ... Well, maybe some mice, and St. Nick’s reindeer

First Place, Page Design, East Penn Press, Dave Rowe, Focus section

Information on Keystone Press Awards recipients:

panewsmedia.org/Events/contest/keystoneprofessional