The editorial staff of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette brought home 10 awards from the Pennsylvania Press Conference over the weekend in Harrisburg.

The Press Conference is the ceremony that culminates the prestigious Keystone Press Awards open to media throughout Pennsylvania.

The awards are meant to reinforce excellence by individuals in the news media profession by recognizing journalism that consistently provides relevance, integrity and initiative in serving readers, and faithfully fulfills the press’ 1st Amendment rights and responsibilities.

Further, the Keystone Press Awards “stimulate journalists to improve their craft and ultimately improve their community,” according to the Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association, which sponsors the awards.

Taking first and second place in the same category, Sun-Gazette sports reporters Chris Masse and Mitch Rupert sealed up Best Sports-Outdoors Column in the collaborative Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors awards on Friday night.

On Saturday night, editorial staff

members received eight more honors in the annual awards ceremony at Harrisburg.

The Sun-Gazette book, “Community Keystone: The Official History of the Williamsport Sun-Gazette,” garnered second place in the Special Project category for Editor L. Lee Janssen, who researched and compiled the book. She shared the award with Tim Wertz, design editor who handled the layout, and Karen Vibert-Kennedy and Mark Nance, each of whom contributed additional photography work.

The editorial staff also received second place in the Sports Event Coverage category for coverage of the Major League Baseball-Little League Baseball Classic and Little League World Series.

Masse received three Keystone awards: Second place in Sports Beat Reporting; honorable mention in Sports Event Coverage for his reporting on Alize Johnson being drafted by the Indiana Pacers, and honorable mention for Sports/Outdoor Column.

Likewise, Wertz received three other Keystone awards: first place in Page Design, honorable mention in Front Page Design and honorable mention in Graphic/Photo Illustration.

“The Sun-Gazette is honored and humbled by these awards. They do reflect the hard work of our staff and their dedication to reporting and chronicling the events, traditions and history of our communities and the rich sports legacy in our region,” said Bob Rolley, newspaper publisher. “We also thank the many advertisers and readers who invest in their community newspaper.”