The Lehigh Valley Press newspapers received 25 awards in the 2018 Professional Keystone Press Awards for work published in 2017.

The Bethlehem Press and its contributors received 12 Keystone Awards.

Salisbury Press received four Keystone Awards.

Parkland Press received three Keystone Awards.

Northampton Press received three Keystone Awards.

Catasauqua Press received two Keystone Awards.

East Penn Press received one Keystone Award.

“We are proud of the outstanding accomplishments of our writers, photographers and editors who work diligently week after week to bring to the pages of our weekly newspapers the stories that chronicle events that affect the lives of our readers and their families. To have some of that work recognized with Keystone Awards is very rewarding for us as an organization,” said Scott Masenheimer, Publisher of the Lehigh Valley Press Newspaper Group.

Here are the 2018 Keystone Awards received by the Lehigh Valley Press newspapers:

Bethlehem Press

First Place, Special Project, Staff: Battling opioids

Honorable Mention, Special Project, Paul Willistein, George VanDoren: Student Poetry Project. (Published in Focus section in all eight Press newspapers.)

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

Honorable Mention, Investigative Reporting, Bernie O’Hare: Ken Kraft under nepotism scrutiny

First Place, Graphic-Photo Illustration, Ed Courrier: Go ahead, make my day!

Honorable Mention, Front Page Design, George Taylor: Eclipse: Earth, moon and sun; Defunding programs; Search & rescue

Second Place, Page Design, George Taylor: Dance quilt; Broken or hopeless; Vegan heaven

Honorable Mention, Page Design, Scott Pagel: Annual Athletes of the Year; Local team wins state title

First Place, Sports Beat Reporting, Katie McDonald: Bethlehem Catholic’s girls basketball teams’ run to a state title

Second Place, Sports Story, Katie McDonald: Straight from the heart

First Place, Feature Beat Reporting, Carole Gorney: Theater reviews: “9 to 5,” “Act One,” “Follies,” “Sister Act,” “White Christmas,” “Christmas Carol.” (Published in Focus section in all eight Press newspapers.)

Second Place, Feature Beat Reporting, Paul Willistein: 12th annual ABEs, Bach reimagined, Both sides now, Shakespeare for everyone, 2017-18 season, Up close and personal. (Published in Focus section in all eight Press newspapers.)

Salisbury Press

Honorable Mention, Editorial, Debbie Galbraith: What about our military personnel?; Should girls be allowed in the Boy Scouts of America?; Equifax data breach means life will never be the same

First Place, Personality Profile, Jim Marsh: Female firefighter, EMT, second-year med student ‘just one of the crew’

First Place, Feature Photo, Jim Marsh: Western firefighters train on a propane-fueled controlled fire

First Place, Photo Story-Essay, Jim Marsh: DUI checkpoint held on Broadway

Parkland Press

First Place, Editorial, Debra Palmieri: Politicians need to call an extended Christmas truce to their rancor; Beware the results of unsecured technological advancements; And you thought things were going to be different

Honorable Mention, Sports Event Coverage, Chuck Hixson: Rivals battle four hours

Honorable Mention, News Photo, Lou Wheeland: Surprise shot

Northampton Press

Second Place, Editorial, Kelly Lutterschmidt: Keep calm and ... ; It takes a village; We’re all in this life together.

Honorable Mention, Sports-Outdoor Column, Bud Cole, Departed pet; Woodland plants, Humming along. (Published in Focus section in all eight Press newspapers.)

Second Place, Sports Beat Reporting, Scott Pagel: Northampton girls basketball team’s run to states

Catasauqua Press

First Place, Column, Mark Reccek: The final bell rings; The chemo war begins; The perils of cancer treatment.

Second Place, Sports Event Coverage, Chuck Hixson: Graves reaches 1,000 points in loss to NW

East Penn Press

Honorable Mention, Sports Photo, Don Herb: Brendan Dunkle dives for a ball during Emmaus’ win over Pennridge

Approximately 3,200 entries were received from 122 Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association news organizations. Entries in 27 categories in seven circulation divisions were judged by journalists in Illinois.

Award recipients will be honored at contest sponsor Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association’s Keystone Press Awards Banquet during the Pennsylvania Press Conference, June 2, at the Wyndham Gettysburg.