Daily American honored for its enterprise reporting
SOMERSET – The Daily American has been honored with a statewide award for one of its stories from last year.
The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association recently announced the Daily American's coverage of the cold case disappearance of Alicia Markovich by former editor Bruce Siwy, former staffer Eric Kieta and planner Cole Johnson earned a first-place award for enterprise reporting in Division IV of the 2023 Keystone Media Awards.
In 1987, 15-year-old Alicia Markovich of Windber was visiting her father in Indiana County when she disappeared. More than a decade later her father told police he'd received an anonymous letter detailing his daughter's death and where her body was hidden. Authorities, however, found nothing at the site of her alleged burial. Similar letters were mailed during this time period from the same New England community to two other families of missing teens, sending investigators on a cross-country chase. Police now say the letters may have been a hoax, and to date, no one has been charged in relation to Alicia's puzzling disappearance.
Daily American editor Patrick O'Shea said this win demonstrates how much impact local journalism can have. "The hard work of this team brought this tragic case back into the spotlight and encouraged investigators to push for more answers," he said.
O'Shea also was honored by the PNA with a second-place citation for column writing in Division II of the Keystone awards.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY NETWORK: Daily American gets first-place award for its coverage of Alicia Markovich case
