Communications at Large …

March 20, 2015

By The Indiana Gazette

The Indiana Gazette has won 10 awards in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s Keystone Press Awards and captured 2014 Sweepstakes honors as the state’s top newspaper in its circulation division.

The Gazette also won top honors in 2007.

In all, the Gazette garnered five first-place awards, two second-place awards and three honorable mentions in various categories in the annual contest, which measures newspapers’ work in 2014 against all other Pennsylvania papers in each respective division.

“I am really thrilled that The Indiana Gazette was ranked the top newspaper in our circulation size in the state,” said Mike Donnelly, president and publisher of Indiana Printing & Publishing, which owns The Indiana Gazette. “Eric Ebeling, our editor, and his staff are dedicated journalists who strive every day to bring our readers the best news coverage possible. I am proud of Eric and his team and glad to see their effort being recognized.”

Award winners were:

• Assistant Sports Editor Matt Burglund, first place in the sports story category, for “Renosky continues to live the dream,” published May 11. The piece was one of eight features on inductees into the Indiana County Sports Hall of Fame.

Burglund also earned an honorable mention in special projects for his work on Eye on the Hawks, a weekly page previewing the Indiana University of Pennsylvania football games.
The Gazette swept the sports event coverage category, where Burglund took first place and honorable mention, and Sports Editor Tony Cocccagna garnered second place. Burglund won for “For the Fun of It,” published Jan. 24, marking the 300th victory of Indiana High School girls’ head basketball coach Dave Woodall. The honorable mention was for “Out of This World: Indiana rallies to beat Mars,” printed Aug. 30, a story about Indiana High School’s stunning upset over the Mars football team early last season. Cocccagna’s award was for “March Sadness,” which appeared March 17, detailing IUP’s agonizing loss to West Liberty in triple overtime in the NCAA tournament. Cocccagna also won second place in sports beat reporting for his unparalleled coverage of IUP men’s basketball.

• Chauncey Ross, first place in the ongoing news coverage category, for his series of stories about the birth of conjoined twins to an Indiana couple against long odds of their survival and the heartbreak of their passing just weeks later.

• Bob Fulton, first place in feature beat reporting, for a number of travel stories about historic sites and national parks in Maryland, Colorado, Nebraska and Wyoming published throughout the year in the Leisure section. His work brings such vivid detail that readers may almost feel as if they are along for the trip.

• Mike Walker earned first place for his sports photo of Tre Tipton, an Apollo-Ridge long jumper soaring through the air, printed May 25.

• James J. Nestor, honorable mention for sports photo for a shot of IUP running back Luigi Lista-Brinza diving for the goal line, published Oct. 24.

“These awards are an acknowledgement of the Gazette staff’s dedication to serving our readers,” said Ebeling. “I see the tireless commitment of our editorial department each and every day, and it feels good to know we were singled out for top honors because of that effort. It’s particularly satisfying that we earned recognition for our work across the board — in news coverage, sports writing and photography.”

The Keystone Press Awards reinforce excellence by individuals in the newspaper profession by recognizing journalism that consistently provides relevance, integrity and initiative in serving readers, and furthers First Amendment values, according to the state newspaper association.

In the last three years, the Gazette has collected 29 Keystone Press Awards.

This year the contest involved about two dozen newspapers, each with a daily circulation less than 20,000. The awards will be presented at a banquet in Gettysburg on May 30.