The Inquirer’s journalism wins top honors at 2019 Keystone Press Awards
The Sweepstakes Award is given to the Pennsylvania news organization with the most first-, second-, and honorable-mention wins in each division
Staff coverage of the Eagles’ Super Bowl win, a photograph of a protester outside Bill Cosby’s sexual assault retrial, an investigation into toxic conditions at Philadelphia schools, and other journalism published last year earned The Inquirer the 2019 Sweepstakes Award from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.
The award is given to the Pennsylvania news organization with the most first- and second- place and honorable mention awards in each division of the annual Keystone Press Awards, announced Friday. The Inquirer received 38 Keystones, 16 of which were for first-place work in the Division I category for multi-day publications with more than 75,000 print circulation. It is the third consecutive year The Inquirer has won the Sweepstakes Award for Division I.
“We have a very talented group of journalists, and winning the Sweepstakes Award for a third straight year announces that loudly and clearly,” said Gabriel Escobar, Inquirer editor and vice president of Philadelphia Media Network. “The range of individual honors is equally notable. Every part of our newsroom was singled out for praise.”
Three Inquirer journalists also received specialty awards: distinguished visual journalist (Charles Fox), the Lenfest Institute Emerging Journalist Award (Heather Khalifa), and the Lenfest Institute Diverse Journalist Award (Aneri Pattani).
“One of our primary goals in the year ahead is to better define what it means to be truly indispensable to the communities we serve," said Stan Wischnowski, Inquirer executive editor and PMN senior vice president. "These Keystone Awards point to the kind of high-impact journalism that will be required to propel us well into the future.”
Winners will be honored at a banquet in Harrisburg on May 18.
Inquirer first-place winners of the 2019 Keystone Press Awards:
Investigative Reporting: Barbara Laker, Wendy Ruderman, Dylan Purcell, and Jessica Griffin for “Toxic City: Sick schools.”
Editorial: Cynthia Burton.
Column Writing: Elizabeth Wellington.
Special Project: Erin McCarthy for “Violent deaths, shattered lives: The Bucks County murders.”
Sports Event Coverage: Staff for Super Bowl LII.
Sports/Outdoor Column Writing: Mike Sielski.
Feature Story: Susan Snyder for “An Iraqi man’s bond with a Penn State professor started with an email. Then U.S. forces bombed his house.”
News Feature Story: Laker, Ruderman, Chris Palmer, and Jacob Adelman for “Anatomy of a deadly clash.”
Personality Profile: Angela Couloumbis for “The man behind the Pa. grand jury report on Catholic clergy abuse.”
Business or Consumer Story: Sarah Gantz for “When medication prices are unaffordable, patients travel abroad for a better deal.”
News Beat Reporting: Julie Shaw.
Sports Beat Reporting: Sam Donnellon for Flyers coverage.
News Photo: David Maialetti, of a protester at Bill Cosby’s retrial.
Feature Photo: Jose F. Moreno for “A handmaid’s tale.”
Sports Photo: Maialetti for “Game over!”
Diversity: Stephanie Farr for “We the People.”