BCCC’s Student Newspaper Picks Up 18 Awards in the Student Keystone Media Contest

The Centurion, Bucks County Community College’s student-run newspaper, has won 18 awards in the 2026 Student Keystone Media Contest. 

The Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association also gave The Centurion the Sweepstakes Award for Division III, which indicates the newspaper won the majority of the contest’s awards within the division. Since 2010, The Centurion has won more than 200 awards in the statewide contest.  

This year, awards were given in categories such as General News, Sports Story, Layout and Design and Video Story. The contest recognizes the hard work the students put in from the Spring and Fall semesters of 2025.

Some of The Centurion staff’s specific awards include:

• General News, First Place – In Possible Sign for Midterms, Democrats Sweep Pennsylvania and Bucks County in Off-Year Elections, Sarah Yanchunas
• General News, Second Place – British Parliament Members Visit Bucks to Seal Transfer Deal with College in Wales, Kassandra Castillo
• Photo Story, First Place – British Parliament Members Visit Bucks to Seal Transfer Deal with College in Wales, Emelia Yotko
• Feature Story, First Place – Vinyl Records Spinning Back into Mainstream, Chelsea King
• Personality Profile, Second Place – In her Varied Roles, Professor Rackin Positively Impacts the School of Language and Literature, Aidan Kegel
• Sports Story, First Place – Emily Gilmore: A Student With Many Talents, Zacchary Crain

“It’s definitely a gratifying moment to see my peers wins awards, especially since a lot of them weren’t expecting it,” said Kassandra Castillo, The Centurion’s editor-in-chief. “I’ve seen the progression of everyone, not only within their writing skills, but their confidence as future journalists as a whole. It’s inspiring to see our collective efforts pay off.”

These awards for The Centurion staff mean even more for Castillo since this is her last semester with the paper. She says the most rewarding part of the job has been seeing all the different majors come together to share their love for news and writing.

“Only half of the staff are journalism majors; the other half are as random as it gets,” Castillo added. “But we all share one passion, so it’s rewarding to see different views and personalities mesh together to make the paper.”

One of the winners, Zacchary Crain, a film and photography major, won an award for the only sports story he wrote for The Centurion.

“Honestly, my favorite part about it was the interview,” said Crain. “Being able to write and learn about someone’s personal story with no bias was really interesting.” Crain plans to continue helping The Centurion with photography in his remaining semesters at Bucks.

The Centurion is completely student run and financially independent. Journalism Professor Tony Rogers, the paper’s faculty advisor, couldn’t be prouder of the work The Centurion’s staff puts in. 

“The thing that’s always impressive especially in community college is how the students continue to produce a very real newspaper despite the constant turnover of students,” said Rogers. “At four-year colleges, students have more time to hone their experience, but despite the two-year challenge, The Centurion staff makes the paper incredible.”

There will be an awards ceremony and luncheon for the winners on April 14 at Best Western Premier the Central Hotel and Conference Center in Harrisburg. New this year, students are invited to participate in a News Media College and Job Fair networking event and a scavenger hunt with prizes prior to the awards ceremony.

Click here for the Centurion website. 

The Centurion is also on Instagram – @centurion_bucks.

Click here to learn more about Bucks’ journalism program.