Once again Bucks’ student newspaper has been recognized for sustained excellence.
The Centurion has been a recipient of 12 Keystone Press Awards for the 2013 year despite recent financial restrictions placed upon the club
The paper as a whole, however, is no stranger to success in the Keystone Press Awards, as previous years saw similar success levels from the newspaper, winning 12 awards in 2012, 11 in 2011 and 13 awards total in 2010.
The statewide contest awards students on a professional level in order to recognize outstanding journalism and, according to the website home of the awards, “The goal is for the ‘Keystones’ to stimulate journalists to improve their craft and ultimately improve their community.”
Many members of the Centurion received awards, one of whom is Anthony DiMattia, co-editor-in-chief, who gave the following statement on the news of the success; “Everyone at the Centurion works extraordinarily hard each week to put a quality paper out for the college. And the amount of awards the paper wins annually is the payoff for all that effort. It’s extremely gratifying to not only see myself, but many others recognized for their reporting, photography and creativity.”
Another among the recognized is Stephen Godwin Jr., the other co-editor-in-chief said the following regarding the paper’s performance: “It’s quite impressive that we are able to win double digit awards for a second year in a row (last year we won 12), but I was glad that most of the writers got recognized for their hard work on the paper.”
Stephen won awards for his works “Mario Berriosis: an up‐and coming coach in Philadelphia” and “Centurions shake off rust against Luzerne,” a personality profile and sports coverage story respectively. “It’s awesome; all the credit goes to Jesus Christ because he is my inspiration. I would also like to credit Tony and the other editors they helped me a lot. I don’t really do this for awards, but it really is a giant blessing,” he said.
Awards won by the Centurion include:
1st place: General news coverage for Stories on the new president of Bucks won by Greg Probst, Anthony DiMattia and Craig Miller.
1st place: Pubic service/enterprise for Tech Troubles won by the Centurion staff.
2nd place: Pubic service/enterprise for Stephanie Shanblatt stories won by Greg Probst, Anthony DiMattia and Craig Miller.
1st place: Personality profile for Mario Berriosis: An Up‐and Coming Coach in Philadelphia won by Stephen Godwin Jr.
2nd place: Feature story for Obstacles Lie Ahead for Shanblatt won by Anthony DiMattia.
Honorable Mention: Feature story for Middle Class Hit Hard by Rough Economy won by Anthony DiMattia.
1st place: Sports story for Tri-Captions Hoping for Trifecta won by Seth Canata.
2nd place: Sports story for “Centurions shake off rust against Luzerne won by Stephen Godwin Jr.
2nd place: Review for New James Bond Movie Explodes into Theatres won by Seth Canata
2nd place: Feature photo for A Hometown Left Devastated won by Craig Miller
1st place: Cartoon/graphic illustration for Cartoons by Dallas Luce won by Dallas Luce
1st place: Website for www.bucks-news.com won by the Centurion staff.
As many know, the Centurion faced big budget cuts, heading into the 2013 spring semester, however, the volume of awards taken home by Bucks writers and contributors shows that the staffers for the paper are working to overcome the shortage in money.
The budget cuts mean that the issues of physical issues being printed this semester will drop from the normally prescribed eight issues, to four or five, as the situation seems right now.
“Our recent financial setback has yet to deter anyone on staff from performing at their best,” Anthony DiMattia said.
Despite the setback, the newsroom has used their award-winning website to its advantage.
“I prefer the print version because it is something concrete. With that said the online paper is working pretty well. We edit the stories and then our web editor, Luther Andersen, does a good job getting them up right away. So it is doing the job of informing the public about what is happening at Bucks,” Godwin said.
Whether in print or on the web, the staff at the Centurion is doing its best to keep the college informed.