The Pennsylvania Newspaper Association announced late last week that two photos by Tamaqua native R. Thomas Berner were selected winners in the 2013 PNA member directory and the 2013 PNA calendar contests.

One of the images is local, taken in Jim Thorpe.The 2013 PNA calendar cover will feature a photograph titled Big Valley Barn. The image depicts a bucolic scene of wheat shocks drying in a Mifflin County, field in July.A second photograph, titled The Doors of Jim Thorpe, was selected for the 2013 PNA member directory cover."This image showcases one of the many reasons people flock to Jim Thorpe - the uniquely and charmingly decorated doors of the town's historic homes," states a release from the PNA.According to the PNA, 45 photo entries were received for its 2013 cover contest; all submissions reflected life in the Keystone State.R. Thomas Berner is a freelance writer and photographer. He is professor emeritus of journalism and American studies at Penn State University. He started his newspaper career at the Tamaqua Evening Courier in 1961. After service in the Navy, he worked at the Pennsylvania Mirror and the Centre Daily Times, both of State College, before moving on to Penn State.Berner is a 1961 alumnus of what was then Tamaqua Area Joint Senior High School. He returned to his alma mater last November after an absence of 51 years to offer encouragement to youngsters studying journalism as the school reinstitutes a student periodical.Berner's online portfolio is viewable at

www.berner.printroom.com.The PNA, founded in 1925, is the nonprofit trade association for print and online media in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Its mission is to advance the interests of Pennsylvania news organizations, promote the importance of a free and independent press and provide a forum for critical and innovative thinking about the future of journalism and the news media industry.It has more than 300 newspaper and media members, including daily, weekly, and college newspapers and online publications.