The Times News earned 11 honors in its circulation division in the 2026 Keystone Media Awards competition, including five first-place awards recognizing reporting, photography and feature writing excellence.

Donald Serfass captured three first-place awards and an additional first-place team honor. His “Tombstone Tales” series won first place in Enterprise Reporting. The five-part series highlighted famous local grave sites.

His work in “Uncovering Historical Gems” took first place in the Lifestyle/Entertainment Beat category.

Serfass also earned first place in News Event Photo for “Dancing in the Street,” a photo of young women of Mexican ancestry practicing their choreography on Jardin Street in Shenandoah for the annual Parade of Nations in Shenandoah.

Amy Miller earned two first-place awards. Her story “A Medical Milestone” won the Personality Profile category, a story about former Times News editor Bob Parfitt who donated a kidney to his sister, Natalie Whiteman in 1975.

Her photo essay “Carbon Catacombs” claimed first place in the Photo Story/Essay division. The photos showed a tour of rooms dug into the base of the mountain behind 44 Susquehanna St., Jim Thorpe.

In sports competition, Justin Carlucci received a second-place award in Sports Feature for “Lehighton’s Borger Wins ATVMX National Title,” featuring Lehighton native Trevor Borger, who battled back from strokes and heart surgery.

Sports editor Patrick Matsinko earned second place in Sports Enterprise for “Following the Dream,” a series about Palmerton siblings Josh and Cassidy Merkel, who excelled in wrestling.

The newspaper also received several honorable mentions.

Marta Gouger was recognized in the Editorial category for a collection of editorials that included “It’s Never a Harmless Brush Fire,” “Bear Attack Brings Awareness of Rabies Risk” and “Operating a Pet Shelter Is a Real ‘Catastrophe.’ ”

Kelly Monitz Socha earned honorable mention in the column category for “Just Be Careful What You Wish For ...,” “Praying Developers Preserve Our Past” and “Mission Accomplished — Real ID in Hand After Paper Chase.”

In design competition, David Rowe received an honorable mention for Feature Page Design for pages that included “Spotlight: Adventure Man,” “Custer’s Last Stand” and “They Fit the Bill.”

The Times News Sports Department also earned an honorable mention in sports page design for “Sports All Around Us.”

The Keystone Media Awards recognize outstanding journalism produced by newspapers and news organizations across Pennsylvania.

The Bethlehem Press was named a Sweepstakes Winner in Division VI Weekly News General News Publications for work published during 2025. For Bethlehem Press Editor George Taylor, this was the ninth time that the Bethlehem Press was a Sweepstakes Winner in the Professional Keystone Awards. The Bethlehem Press is noting its 21st year.

A total of 17 Keystone Media Awards were won in 2026 by The Press newspapers. The East Penn Press, Parkland Press, Catasauqua Press and Whitehall-Coplay Press weeklies scored awards.

The awards were presented at a luncheon in Harrisburg in October.