The Chestnut Hill Local won a dozen Keystone Media Awards in the 2025 Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association (PNA) contest and came in second place in its category for News Organization of the Year, the statewide organization has announced. 

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, and the winners will be honored at the Keystone Media Awards Luncheon on Oct. 16 in Harrisburg.

“Many thanks to the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association and to the impartial external panel of judges who awarded the Local with 13 distinct awards this year,” said the Local’s publisher, Daralyse Lyons. “I am blown away by yet another stellar performance from our editorial team. Our editorial staff continually outperforms our limited resources and should be proud of what they manage to accomplish.”

“This year,” she added, “our editorial department won awards in a variety of categories and for both the Local and the Wissahickon Magazine. I'm excited by the endorsement of our staff's hard work and excited that Northwest Philadelphia and Southeast Montgomery County communities have access to award-winning coverage. The Local has been serving this region for 67 years and I hope we continue long beyond the next 67.”

Editor Carla Robinson said she was especially proud of a first-place win for Wissahickon Magazine, and for the paper’s reporting on diversity, equity and inclusion. 

“The magazine has really grown into something we can all be proud of,” she said. “And we work hard to make sure that all members of our communities feel included in the pages of our newspaper. I’m tickled pink that the awards committee recognized that.”

In addition to the 12 Keystone Media Award wins announced earlier this month, this week, PNA announced that, for the third year in a row, the Local won second place in the News Organization of the Year weekly publications category, bringing the total number of editorial awards to 13. Last year, the Local also won PNA’s sweepstakes for best performance in its division (PNA has seven divisions, with the Local 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.

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 and Carla Robinson 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.”

“I’m grateful to live in a neighborhood where strong journalism keeps us connected,” said Jane Hughes, president of the Local’s board of directors. “The recognition from PNA is a testament to the momentum the Local has maintained for years now.”