Observer-Reporter staff earns statewide awards
Staff photographer Katie Roupe received first-place in the Keystone Press Award competition for her photo illustration of Chartiers-Houston’s Alec Ferrari and McGuffey’s Sammie Weiss, the Observer-Reporter’s basketball players of the year for the 2014-15 season.
Katie Roupe’s photo of McGuffey’s Austin Fisher pinning A.J. Mauro last December won a second-place Keystone Press Award.
Natalie Reid Miller
Scott Beveridge
Celeste Van Kirk
David Singer
Mike Jones
Justin Channell
Katie Roupe
Liz Rogers
Lance Lysowski
The Observer-Reporter won nine statewide awards for writing and photography, as well as for its website.
The staff received a first-place Keystone Press Award in the Breaking News category for its coverage of the Oct. 14 Avella standoff that resulted in the suicide of murder suspect Dennis Kern.
Staff writer Scott Beveridge reported on the story, tweeting from the standoff and sending video and photos along with photographer Celeste Van Kirk. Readers were engaged as Digital Media Editor Justin Channell posted updates to the O-R’s website and social media platforms.
The standoff coverage also took first place for Best Spot News Coverage in the Pennsylvania Associated Press Managing Editors Association’s contest.
The Under the Label series took first place for Best Enterprise Reporting in the PAPME contest.
Through the series, staff writers Natalie Miller and David Singer told the stories of a recovering addict, a drug dealer, a transgender student and an athlete with a criminal past. Photographers Katie Roupe and Celeste Van Kirk provided photos and videos for the series.
Roupe also won a first-place PAPME award for Best Illustration or Graphic for her All-District Basketball illustration, which accompanied the announcement of the newspaper’s basketball players of the year for the 2014-15 season.
Roupe also won a second-place PAPME award for her sports photo, “Just Like Old Times,” which illustrated a McGuffey wrestler’s reaction to winning a bout in a wrestling match.
Her video story, “Spirit of Freedom,” captured an honorable mention in the Keystone Press contest. The video took viewers along for a ride aboard a C-54E Skymaster cargo plane, an aircraft used during the Berlin Airlift.
The newspaper’s Living in Washington County and Greene County Living magazines received a first-place Keystone Press Award in the Niche Publication category. Liz Rogers is editor of Living in Washington County, and Mike Jones is editor of Greene County Living.
Staff writer Lance Lysowski received second place in the Keystone contest in the Sports Beat Reporting category. His entry included a trend piece on the evolution of youth baseball; a profile of a young athlete battling cancer, and a feature on a small private high school that boasts a dozen talented basketball players aspiring to play Division I basketball.
The newspaper’s website, observer-reporter.com, won second place for Best Overall Digital Experience in the America East Digital Media Contest. It also took third place for Best Overall Use of Social Media.
The digital awards were presented last week at the America East Media Business and Technology Conference in Hershey.
Keystone and PAPME awards will be presented May 20 and 21 at the Pennsylvania Press Conference in Harrisburg.