Stop the Presses! ‘The Centurion,’ Bucks County Community College Newspaper, Wins State Honors
The Centurion marched over other competitors in the 2022 Keystone Media Awards to keep its status as one of the most-honored student newspapers in the state. The Bucks County Community College periodical has amassed 150 official honors to its name over the years, a number that increased by 15 this year.
The 2022 wins include first-place awards for general news, news photo, layout and design, website, and video story.
The Centurion is entirely student run and financially independent.
Tony Rogers, the college’s journalism professor and faculty advisor to the paper, said the awards were for work done in the spring and fall semesters of 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“This was an especially difficult time at the Centurion,” Rogers said. “Enrollment at Bucks was hit hard by the pandemic, which meant The Centurion was operating with a much smaller staff and many students working remotely.”
Still, Rogers added, staffers managed to do terrific work. “There’s never been a time that I’ve been more proud of my students.”
Editor-in-Chief Lucas Darling, a sophomore journalism major, said the “…writers and editors put in a lot of effort to make the paper happen. I’m happy that those efforts are being recognized.”
He added: “It’s not easy to get the paper done remotely, but we still make a great final product. It’s awesome to get some awards myself, and it’s also cool to see some of the people that I work with on the paper get awards too.”
The Keystone contest is administered by the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. The publication competed in Division III, which includes two-year colleges from across the state.
Rogers said he was especially proud of the fact that the paper won second place in the newly created Diversity category. News content contributing to that honor resulted from coverage of the college’s:
- Pride month celebration
- Virtual Juneteenth event
- Black History Month commemoration
The full list of honors is as follows:
| Category | Placement | Title | Journalist(s) |
| General news | First | “Beloved Bucks Professor Dr. Christopher Bursk Dies at Age 78” | Echo Rogers |
| Ongoing news coverage | Second | “Year Two of the Ongoing COVID‐19 Pandemic” | Alyssa Allebach, Gabriella Pirmann, Lucas Darling |
| Public service | Second | “Special Report: The COVID Shutdown at Bucks, One Year Later” | Gabriella Pirmann, Lucas Darling, Alyssa Moore |
| Public service | Honorable Mention | “Special Report: The Fallout From the 2020 Election” | Lucas Darling, Gabriella Pirmann |
| Feature story | Second | “A Conversation with President Ganther” | James Bonnell |
| Sports story | Second | “Bucks Women’s Soccer Team Season Preview” | Mitchel Wilbur |
| Sports story | Honorable Mention | “Bucks Men’s Soccer Team Season Preview” | Colin Riccardi |
| Review | Second | ”No Time to Die is a Perfect Send‐Off for Craig’s Bond” | Mark Ruffin |
| Review | Honorable Mention | “Shang‐Chi is Action Movie Perfection” | Mark Ruffin |
| News photo | First | “Pastor Aden Visits Bucks Once Again” | Gabriella Pirmann |
| Layout and design | First | “A Socially Distant Year” | John Madden, Olivia Ruddell |
| Website | First | www.bucks-news.com | Lucas Darling |
| Video story | First | “Dealing With COVID‐19 Stress” | Alyssa Moore |
| Video story | Second | “Centurion Editor Keeps Putting Out the Paper, Despite the Pandemic” | Alyssa Moore |
| Diversity | Second | • “Celebrating Pride Month with Senator Steven Santarsiero and Kevin Antoine” • “Bucks County Community College Hosts Virtual Juneteenth Event” • “The History and Impact of Black History Month” | Echo Rogers, Mark Ruffin, Lucas Darling |
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