Communications at Large …

April 19, 2011

By The Indiana Gazette

Eight Gazette staffers have won awards for journalistic excellence in two recent statewide competitions.

Three members of the news staff and two on the sports staff won five awards in the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association’s annual Keystone Press Awards contest for work printed in 2010.

News reporter also Sam Kusic picked up an award in the Associated Press Managing Editor’s (APME) annual contest.

Gazette graphic artists Eric Smith and Bob Visnesky won first place in the graphic/illustration category in the PNA contest for their work on the 2010 football preview cover on Sept. 2 that featured caricatures of four star football players at Penns Manor Area High School.

Other Keystone Press Award winners were:

¦ Chauncey Ross, second place in the personality profile category for his story “Fate, social networking draw two women together in hope,” printed June 13.

Honorable mentions went to:

¦ Assistant sports editor Matthew Burglund, in the sports story category, for “No ordinary life,” a feature about Mike
Menosky’s baseball career in Glen Campbell, printed May 17. Menosky, who played in the early 1900s, is
a recent inductee into the county’s sports hall of fame.

¦ Sports editor Tony Coccagna, special project, for “The Road to Springfield,” a supplement previewing the Indiana University of Pennsylvania men’s basketball team’s run into the national playoffs, published in March.

¦ Reporter Heather Roth, news feature story, for “Officials, families at odds over extension of water lines,” printed Aug. 1.

¦ Reporter Bill Zimmerman, feature story, for “Man’s goofy car makes a splash,” published June 20.

The Gazette competed against about 20 other Pennsylvania newspapers in its circulation category, which includes papers with a daily circulation under 20,000. In the last five years, staffers have earned 30 Keystone awards.

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 Associated Press Managing Editor’s contest, Kusic earned second place among daily papers in the 15,000 to 30,000 circulation category.

His winning entry was in the feature writing category for “In sickness and in health: Couple to wed despite injury,” published Feb. 14.