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The Williamsport Sun-Gazette earned eight prestigious Keystone Media Awards for its work in 2022.
Design editor Tim Wertz won first place for feature page design, first place for sports page design and second place and honorable mention for graphic or photo illustration.
"Tim has won numerous Keystone awards over the years. His creativity and talent have long led the Sun-Gazette and its visually appealing designs to stand out from other newspapers across Pennsylvania and the nation, for that matter," managing editor Mike Maneval said.
The Sun-Gazette also earned honorable mention in a very competitive category: Investigative reporting.
A team -- correspondent Garrett Carr along with staff members Karen Vibert-Kennedy, Dave Kennedy and Maneval -- won an honorable mention for investigative reporting for a series of articles and video segments on Tioga Borough's controversial attempt to hire the police officer who fatally shot Tamir Rice in 2014.
"Garrett's doggedness in pursuing this news tip was inspiring, and the hard work and skill Dave and Karen brought to the project assisted in the Sun-Gazette offering a thorough, comprehensive examination of a contentious issue," Maneval said.
"Maneval's solid news sense enabled the staff to present the series in the most impactful way," added news editor Karen Vibert-Kennedy.
Sports editor Jon Gerardi won second place and associate editor Mallorie McIlwain won honorable mention for headline writing. Sportswriter Chris Masse won an honorable mention for sports feature writing for a profile of St. John Neumann's Hanief Clay.
"The staff at this community newspaper work hard for our thousands of readers in print and online -- and for our advertisers -- to provide compelling, informative and timely news and sports," said Bob Rolley, Sun-Gazette publisher. "We're all very proud of these awards but we also recognize the work that takes place every day behind the scenes. All of our staff can claim some recognition and affirmation that their work is reflected in these honors."
The Keystone Media Awards are judged and presented annually by the Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association.
"The Keystone Media Awards reinforce excellence by individuals in the news media profession by recognizing journalism that consistently provides relevance, integrity and initiative in serving readers and audiences, and faithfully fulfills its First Amendment rights/responsibilities," the association says on its website.