The Philadelphia Inquirer Wins Keystone Award Sweepstakes

By Stephanie Mancuso

The 2009 Keystone Press Awards were announced by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association, journalists who have shown constant reliability and significance through their writing. These journalists have helped to provide accurate news stories to their readers, thereby enriching community news.

The goal of the Keystone Press Awards is to enable journalists to improve their journalistic writing and to provide information that will help their community. One important newspaper in the Philadelphia area has gone above and beyond in 2009 by placing first in 11 categories of the Keystone Awards.

The Philadelphia Inquirer received the Keystone Press Sweepstakes in the 2009 awards. The staff was also honored by the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association in a plethora of Division 1 Keystone categories. Reporters were recognized as first –place winners in these categories: Editorial, Column, Ongoing News, Series, Sports/Outdoor Column, Feature Story, Online Journalistic Innovation, Business or Consumer Story, News Beat Reporting, Page Design, and News Feature Story.

“We are really pleased to get the kind of recognition that we have received from the Keystone Press Awards and hopefully we can do this kind of work today and into the future on behalf of the public. Ultimately, the newspaper and the website are here to serve readers and audiences. This recognition reaffirms the values and shows that we are dong what we have set out to do,” Bill Marimow, editor and executive vice president of the Philadelphia Inquirer, noted for the newspaper’s 11, first-place 2009 Keystone awards.

Philadelphia Inquirer staffers not only won 11 first-place awards but also second-place awards in the Personality Profile and Business or Consumer Story categories. An honorable mention was won in the Feature Story category as well.

The newspaper business has been struggling with economic hardships as well as many other businesses today. The recent Keystone honors have shown that the Philadelphia Inquirer are motivated and dedicated more than ever to showing the community that nothing stands in the way of their journalistic responsibility to give their readers the most accurate and timely news possible, Marimow said.

“I think that at a time like this when the national economy is in the doldrums and the news business is in doldrums, everyone realizes that the key to success is exceptional journalism. Exceptional journalism and ad good viable business practice go hand-in-hand. If you have good journalism practice people will buy the newspaper and go to the website, which in turn, will generate revenue for the newspaper business,” Marimow added.

Winners are as follows:

2009 Keystone Press Awards:

1^st Place, Philadelphia Inquirer Winners