A bear plunging from a tree. Insightful high school football discussions. Video chronicling the gridiron “battle of the Burg.” Breaking news on Beaver Stadium going big. Exposing questionable contracts in Dauphin County. And a full menu of hot takes in a collection of sports columns.
This diverse list of 2024 content highlighting PennLive’s full array of digital journalism offerings was recently recognized with national awards bestowed by several prestigious organizations in competitions with entries from across the country.
In announcing the company’s award haul, PennLive’s Senior Director of Content Teresa Bonner said:
“The national awards PennLive received showcase the variety of work we do, and the quality of work by our talented staff. The awards recognize breaking news coverage and investigative reporting; our high school football podcast, and Penn State football commentary; and our visual reporting — T.J. Smith‘s fine video on the Harrisburg-Bishop McDevitt rivalry and Sean Simmers amazing photo of a tranquilized bear being caught as he fell from a tree.”
Specifically, Simmers earned second place in spot news photography as part of the 91st National Headliner Awards contest for his image entitled, “Bear Falling from Tree.”
The same organization awarded a second place in the sports podcast category to the “PA High School Football Report” podcast featuring reporters Brian Linder, Eric Epler and Dan Sostek and produced by Megan Lavey-Heaton. The same podcast was recognized with three statewide awards in 2023 and 2024.
PennLive was recognized with four awards from the Associated Press Sports Editors, considered by many to be the most prestigious sports journalism organization in the U.S.
PennLive received a Top 10 win for digital portfolio, judged on the overall quality and presentation of sports websites, including multimedia elements. PennLive’s entry featured
- A story on Bishop McDevitt QB Stone Saunders being named PennLive Player of the Year
- Coverage of the District 3 5A football championship between Bishop McDevitt and Exeter
- A look at an award coveted by Penn State football players but little known to the rest of the world
- A video feature on the renewed rivalry between Harrisburg and Bishop McDevitt high schools
- PennZone: PennLive’s high school football watch-along, postgame show
The “Battle of the Burg,” video, about the renewed high school football rivalry between Harrisburg and Bishop McDevitt, led to a Top 5 award in Excellence in Video (Division C) for videographer T.J. Smith.
Reporter Charlie Thompson ranked fourth among the Top 10 in Breaking News (Division C) for his story on the Penn State Trustees green-lighting a major, multi-million-dollar renovation of Beaver Stadium.
And retired sports columnist David Jones placed eighth in the Top 10 (Division C) for a collection of his columns, including well-reasoned ruminations on O.J. Simpson, Caitlin Clark, Coach Dawn Staley and his parting wishes for his favorite sports event, the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.
Finally, as previously announced, investigative reporter Juliette Rihl has been named a local news finalist for the national Livingston Award for her work exposing questionable contracts in Dauphin County. The award honors journalists under the age of 35 for outstanding achievement.
Rihl is one of 19 finalists for the award, with the winner to be announced at a June 10 ceremony in New York. The honor is based on three stories she wrote about former Dauphin County Commissioner Jeff Haste, including a story about a $2 million dollar contract awarded to a friend of Haste who had no experience; a story about Haste approving funding to a tourism bureau where his wife worked; and a story about Haste collecting a $60,000 salary for a job with a questionable purpose.
Prior to joining PennLive last year, Rihl was part of a team of 24 student-journalists at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School who contributed reporting, data collection and analysis to a larger collaboration among multiple journalism organizations looking into the use of lethal restraint by police. The resulting project, entitled “Lethal Restraint,” was listed as a finalist for a 2025 Pulitzer Prize in investigative reporting.
Summing up the impact of all the national honors, Bonner said, “Every day I’m impressed by the dedication of our staff, and the quality of work they produce, and it‘s gratifying to see that recognized with these awards.”
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