The Erie Times-News staff won five awards for outstanding journalism in two recent programs and have eight finalist entries in another contest that will make its award presentations in late May.

The Times-News earned three first-place awards and one second-place award in the annual Professional Keystone Media contest.

Tom Reisenweber also won a Best of Gannett award for Sports Reporting.

Eight more entries are finalists for the Press Club of Western Pennsylvania's Golden Quill Awards.

Lisa Thompson Sayers earned two Keystone first-place awards, for Column and Editorial. Each category sought entries displaying "high achievement and dedication to the craft."

Also earning a first-place Keystone was Jennie Geisler in the Lifestyle/Entertainment Beat category for her dining reporting. The category was for entries "where emphasis is placed on thoroughness of reporting, enterprise, diversity of coverage and sources and mastery of subjects."

Geisler will soon launch a weekly email newsletter, Erielicious, entirely about food, dining and drink in the Erie region. Watch the Times-News and GoErie.com for details.

The Times-News also earned a second-place Keystone in the Diversity category, which sought entries that "inform on diverse elements in the community, encourage diversity awareness and reflect an ongoing effort to cover inclusive integration of diverse populations within your community." The Times-News won the category in 2021.

The five-article entry included work by Baylee DeMuth, Kevin Flowers, Matthew Rink, Jim Martin, Ed Palattella, Greg Wohlford and retired visual journalist Jack Hanrahan.

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The Keystone Awards are managed by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association Foundation. Entries this year were judged by journalists from Virginia. The PNA Foundation reported there were more than 2,500 entries submitted by 110 news organizations in 53 regular categories and 12 specialty categories across seven circulation and four broadcast divisions. The Times-News competes in Division II.

Reisenweber, a longtime sports writer, won Division II Best of Gannett recognition for his profile of then-Erie SeaWolves player Dylan Rosa, who gives voice to others who stutter. Judges called it "heart-warming" journalism.

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The annual Best of Gannett awards were judged by a diverse panel of 42 judges from outside the company. There were 1,950 entries.

Eight entries from the Times-News are finalists for the Golden Quills in Division II. Winners will be announced May 24 in Pittsburgh.

Finalists are Matthew Rink, for Enterprise/Investigative; Jim Martin, in the Business/Technology/Consumer category; Dana Massing in two categories, Science/Environment and History/Culture; Tom Reisenweber in Sports; Lisa Thompson Sayers in two categories, Editorials and Columns/Blogs; and Greg Wohlford and Jack Hanrahan for Photo Essay.

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The Golden Quills recognize professional and student excellence in written, photographic, design, broadcast, audio, video and digital journalism in western Pennsylvania and nearby counties in Ohio and West Virginia.

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This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Times-News staff win journalism awards, finalists for more