The Chestnut Hill Local collected a dozen Keystone Media Awards and won honors in the competition for News Organization of the Year at a Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association (PNA) ceremony in Harrisburg on Oct. 16.

It was the third year in a row that the Local won second place in the News Organization of the Year weekly publications category, bringing the total number of editorial awards this year to 13. Last year, the Local also won PNA’s sweepstakes for best performance in Division VI, for weekly general news publications under 5,000 circulation. Earlier this year, the Local also won its division in PNA’s Advertising Sweepstakes Contest.

Ironically, the awards come at a time when the Local is in deep financial peril. (For details, see the column by Laura Lucas on page 6 of today’s newspaper.)

“Our community newspaper makes our neighborhood special and we are so thankful for this recognition from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association,” said Laura Lucas, president of the Chestnut Hill Community Association. “At a time when newspapers are challenged to find funding and creative ways to keep the doors open, it motivates the Chestnut Hill Local staff, its owner the Chestnut Hill Community Association, and our entire community while providing statewide recognition for the work that community papers like ours do. Local news matters and makes a real difference to communities like ours.”

The Keystone competition was fierce: PNA said that this year, it received 2,513 entries from 119 news organizations. The contest was judged by Indiana’s Hoosier State Press Association, with the winners announced in July.

“I am thrilled to get such prestigious statewide recognition for what is now the third year running,” said Carla Robinson, who has led the Local’s editorial team for the past four years, and who for the past several months has been in charge of a project to develop special sections for the newspaper. “And I’m so proud of our first place win for Wissahickon Magazine - a publication that we’ve steadily been building into a standout publication. And our first place win for reporting on diversity, equity and inclusion is also so rewarding - we work hard to ensure that everyone feels included in the pages of our newspaper.”

The Local’s 2025 Keystone awards included first-place wins for:

Wissahickon Magazine, as a special section of the newspaper

Excellence in reporting on diversity, equity and inclusion for a package of six stories by Kristin Holmes, Len Lear and Delaney Parks: “How a jazz giant found a sanctuary in Philadelphia; A trio of childhood friends brings development home; A period of intermission for The Colored Girls Museum; Shape of my heart is a vibrant mixed media odyssey; A peripatetic journey from Jewish roots to Islamic mysticism; Mt. Airy woman blazed a trail as a Boy Scout leader”

Editorial writing by Carla Robinson, including “Maintaining a close relationship with our readers” 

Business or consumer story, “Weavers Way Co-op” by Robert Calandra

Len Lear’s “Vintage View” column

Feature page design by Richard Stein, Carla Robinson and Tommy Tucker for three stories: “Seeing her art through a leafy lens; Local honey brings a sweet legacy; Capturing the beauty of a unique landscape”

The paper won second-place awards for a Wyndmoor fire photo; ongoing news coverage of the Germantown YWCA by Carla Robinson, Tom Beck and Richard Stein; Carla Robinson’s headline writing, and a graphic/photo illustration for “Seeking a solution to sewage floods” by Kelly O’Day. 

Honorable mentions went to Carla Robinson and Tom Beck for their ongoing news coverage of SEPTA’s funding crisis, and to photographer Rob Cardillo for his cover photo for Wissahickon Magazine’s special garden issue.