The Mercury earns 4 Keystone Media Awards for journalistic excellence

POTTSTOWN — The Mercury was honored with four journalism awards as part of the annual Keystone Media Awards contest.

All four awards were won by veteran reporter Evan Brandt.

• Brandt won a second-place award in the “Investigative Reporting” category for stories that revealed that Republican candidates for the Perkiomen Valley School Board had misrepresented whether they were taking campaign funding from political action groups outside the community.

• He also won a second-place award in the “Ongoing News Coverage” category for his reporting on the Perkiomen Valley School Board’s debates regarding proposed policy changes for removing certain books and materials from the district’s libraries.

• He won a second-place award in the “News Feature Story” category for coverage of the publishing of James McBride’s new best-selling novel, “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store,” which takes place in Pottstown.

• Lastly, Brandt won a second-place award in the “Breaking News” category for the story headlined “Man shot fatally near police station.”

The Mercury competes in the category of daily newspapers in Pennsylvania with a circulation of 10,000 or less.

Brandt has worked as a reporter for The Mercury since late 1997.

According to the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, which oversees the contest each year, “the Keystone Media Awards reinforce excellence by individuals in the news media profession by recognizing journalism that consistently provides relevance, integrity, and initiative in serving readers and audiences, and faithfully fulfills its First Amendment rights/responsibilities. Further, the Keystone Media Awards stimulate journalists to improve their craft and ultimately improve their community.”

The awards will be presented during a luncheon on Thursday, Oct. 17, at the Sheraton Harrisburg Hershey Hotel.