The Chestnut Hill Local won a dozen Professional Keystone Media Awards in the 2026 Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association (PNA) contest, the statewide organization announced on July 16.

These include six first-place awards, three second place, and three honorable mentions, equal to the total from last year. The Local was a repeat winner in four of the first-place wins. All the winners will be honored at the Keystone Media Awards Luncheon on Oct. 8 in Harrisburg, in conjunction with the PNA Annual National Newspaper Week Convention.

“Winning 12 Keystone awards for the second year in a row is a remarkable achievement for our newsroom. These honors reflect the depth, integrity and heart our reporters bring to every story about this community,” said Laura Lucas, president of the Chestnut Hill Community Association and acting publisher of the Local. “We’re able to do this work because Chestnut Hill and Northwest Philadelphia continue to believe in and support local journalism. I’m incredibly proud of our team, and deeply grateful to the readers, neighbors and partners who make it possible for the Local to thrive.”

This year’s highly competitive contest was judged by the Alabama Press Association, with one more announcement expected in August: the winners of the 2026 News Organization of the Year honors. For the last three years in a row, the Local has won second place in that statewide category for weekly publications. In 2025, 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).

This year, for the second year in a row, the Local also won its division in PNA’s Advertising Sweepstakes Contest. In addition to the ad sweepstakes, the Local garnered nine individual category awards, touching on all aspects of its operations from newspaper, magazine and digital to marketing and community outreach.

The Local’s 2026 Keystone Media 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 five stories by Kristin E. Holmes (“Kambel Smith’s hidden talent is hidden no more” and “Miles and memories: How Wissahickon Park created bonds that last a lifetime”); Jeff Meade (“OMC student is an expert: ‘Carol of the Bells’ has roots in Ukraine”); Maggie Dougherty (“Scout leader celebrates Golden Eagle anniversary”); and Len Lear (“Family’s escape from Taliban ends in NW Philadelphia”).

• Len Lear’s “Vintage View” column

• Personality Profile, Kristin E. Holmes, for “Kambel Smith’s hidden talent is hidden no more.”

• Enterprise Reporting, Kyle Bagenstose, for “A swim in the Schuylkill.”

• Feature Photo, Julia Lehman, cover of Wissahickon magazine, Summer 2025.

The paper won second-place awards for:

• Sports Beat Reporting, Tom Utescher, “GFS girls play a nail-biter game at George School.”

• Lifestyle/Entertainment Beat, Hugh Hunter, “Act II Playhouse delivers murder most calculated.”

• Feature Page Design, Richard Stein, “New gallery will provide a permanent place for a pioneering painter.”

Honorable mentions went to:

• News Feature Story, Abby Weiss, “Philadelphia still spraying outlawed herbicides in city’s public parks.”

• Feature Story, Abby Weiss, “Close encounters: Coyotes move in.”

• Personality Profile, Robert Calandra, “The secret life of Subtronics.”