The Tyrone Eagle Eye News won four awards from the annual Pennsylvania New Media Association Keystone Student Press Awards, including the Best High School News Website in Pennsylvania award.

“I’m proud of our students for all of their quality work and creativity,” said Eagle Eye adviser Todd Cammarata. “It might not be as exciting as a sports championship, but this is kind of like winning states for us. There are a lot of bigger schools with larger staffs and more developed journalism programs that we are in competition with for this award, so it’s a real honor to have our school recognized in this way.”

The Eagle Eye won third place in this category last year. One of the goals set by the editors at the beginning of the year was to win this award again and hopefully do better than third.

“It’s cool that we get to go again to the awards. I’m proud of everyone in the Eagle Eye. We worked hard for so many years to get this award and it has finally paid off,” said Eagle Eye Editor in Chief Cate Baran.

The Eagle Eye also won three individual awards for stories written during the 2019 calendar year. All three of the winning stories were about Tyrone alumni.

Seniors Brent McNeel and Dan Parker took third in the Public Service Category for their story Tragedy Inspires Eagle Eye Focus on Mental Health, which was written in response to the tragic death of former Eagle Eye Editor in Chief Adam Zook.

Eagle Eye Sports Editor Michael Stoner took third in the Sports Category for his profile story Comeback Complete: Christine Nets 1,000 Career College Points, about former Tyrone basketball standout Finnley Christine earning her 1,000 point in college after just falling short of that goal in high school due to an ACL injury.

Senior Editor in Chief Cate Baran and Elise Brooks took third in Personality Profile for their story Alumni Spotlight: Depression Doesn’t Skip Anyone, a profile of Tyrone alumni and former state high jump champ Charles Wilson Adams, who opened up about his own struggles with depression and his Instagram project to help bring awareness to the issue of mental health.

The awards are sponsored by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association Foundation, a statewide independent, non-profit corporation that, according to their website, “provides training and resources to members, to develop the next generation of readers and journalists, and to educate the public on the importance of the First Amendment and the role of a free press.”

Awards are presented annually in four divisions, Division I for four-year colleges over 10,000 enrollment, Division II for four-year colleges under 10,000 enrollment, Division III for two-year colleges and Division IV for high schools.

The winners were to be honored at a luncheon celebration on Wednesday, April 8 at the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey, but with the travel and gathering restrictions in place due to the Coronavirus, plans to attend the awards ceremony have been canceled.

To see a complete list of this year’s Keystone Student Press Awards winners, click here.

Last year the Eagle Eye won six awards at the Keystone Student Press Awards including third place for Best Student News Site and five individual awards.

The Eagle Eye is also a seven-time winner of the Student Newspapers Online Distinguished Site Award.

Cammarata credits the support of the Tyrone community for the continued success of the Eagle Eye.

“The students and I do this because the community supports it. We would like to thank the Tyrone administration and especially all of our loyal readers in the community for their support,’ said Cammarata, “that’s what really motivates the staff to do their best work.”