As the great Pelé once said, “Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice, and most of all, love of what you are doing.”
The B-A BluePrint strives everyday to achieve this goal of success. On Monday, their hard work was rewarded when it was named best student-run website Pennsylvania by the 2025 Student Keystone Awards.
This is the first time the website has won the award since 2018 when they went back-to-back, winning in 2017 as well. The BluePrint also came in second place in 2016, 2021, 2022, and 2023, giving it 7 top-two finishes in 11 years as an online news source.
The Keystone Media Awards, previously known as the Keystone Press Awards, recognize journalism by individuals and organizations that consistently provide relevance, integrity, and initiative. The Awards stimulate journalists to improve their craft and ultimately improve their community.
Receiving an award of such magnitude should be a huge honor to anyone who worked so hard for it, BluePrint advisor Mr. Kerry Naylor said.
“This is an amazing accomplishment for our staff and everyone involved with making the BluePrint a success each and every day,” said Naylor. “It’s a grind, it can be demanding, and it takes a lot of work, but our staff pushes hard day in and out to make our publication a success, and — at least according to the Keystone Awards — the best in PA.”
Sports editor Matthew Berkowitz said earning top honors in state was “a great feeling.”
“We all work hard to meet our deadlines and provide news and content for the community,” he said.
Along with the BluePrint as a whole, there were also individuals who won awards. Jake Baker, Berkowitz, Zach Gonzalez, and Cayden Pellegrine came in second place for their “4th and 3” podcast. Riley Barnhart and Zach Pier both got honorable mentions for their stories in the news and sports categories, respectively. For his video stories from last spring, 2024 B-A grad Kevin Liang won first place as well.
“A lot of behind-the-scenes occurs for our podcast to run smoothly,” Berkowitz said. “To see our ideas and humor recognized at a state level is quite rewarding.”
“There are so many smart and talented kids who have come through BluePrint class over the years,” Mr. Naylor said. “We’ve had classes who have laid the foundation of tradition, others who have been the grind-it-out hard workers, and others who are just wildly talented at writing and coming up with ideas. This year’s group would do anything I ask and never complain. They come in to class in the morning and just work. I’ve never heard one of them complain about an assignment yet.”
Editor Riley Barnhart said the staff puts in plenty of hard work to maintain its standard of excellence.
“You have to be willing to put in time, effort, and creativity,” she said. “But in the end it pays off … everyone has a part that requires something of them.”
Mr. Naylor said many of these opportunities wouldn’t have been possible without the Bellwood-Antis School District Foundation. The Foundation awarded the BluePrint a grant this year to redesign their entire video production studio. Not only do BluePrint podcast hosts use the studio, it is also used for morning announcements each day, and classroom activities.
Award winners will be recognized at an awards dinner in Harrisburg scheduled for April 3.
