Broad + Liberty Wins First Place In Statewide Journalism Contest For Investigative Reporting On Delco Prison

Congratulations to Broad & Liberty and Todd Shepherd for their Pennsylvania Journalism Award. 

(I'm a Broad & Liberty contributor).

You can read Broad & Liberty’s press release below:

Broad + Liberty has been awarded first place in the investigative reporting category in the 2025 Keystone Media Awards, one of Pennsylvania’s most competitive and respected contests recognizing excellence in journalism.

The honor was announced in the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association’s official winners list, released earlier this month. Broad + Liberty earned first place for its work detailing administrative failures for two suicides at the Delaware County prison following the county’s 2022 decision to take direct control of the facility. 

In the story, “Exclusive: Medical services denied to Delco inmate 18 hours before suicide attempt in 2022,” Broad + Liberty investigative reporter Todd Shepherd uncovered that an inmate named Patrick Langworthy was denied critical medical attention less than a day before he attempted suicide.

In a second story titled, “‘My son could still be alive, maybe.’ — Delco prison suicide raises questions about privacy laws and broken cell locks,” Shepherd detailed how malfunctioning cell-door mechanisms delayed emergency response, with the inmate’s mother, Janet Owens, seeking answers following the loss of her son, Andrew Little.

The Keystone Media Awards drew more than 2,500 entries this year from news organizations across the commonwealth. Outlets ranging from major dailies to local weeklies competed, with winners recognized across multiple divisions based on publication size and circulation. Broad + Liberty competed in Division I, which hosts the largest outlets in the commonwealth such as the Philadelphia Inquirer and Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“For lean, independent outlets like ours, it’s especially gratifying to be recognized alongside much larger publications,” said Terry Tracy, Broad + Liberty’s president and CEO. “This award reflects the hard work of our entire team and the support of readers who believe in accountable, independent journalism.”

Shepherd credited the families featured in the two pieces for their willingness to share difficult stories publicly.

“In order for me to publish these stories, two families who suffered the tragedy of losing a family member in terrible circumstances had to open themselves up emotionally to me,” Shepherd said. “In my twenty-plus years of working as a journalist, I know how hard it can be for someone to put their trust in a reporter when they’ve never really had any experience doing that. For those reasons, I hope those families will feel as though they share in this award with me. I certainly feel that way, and was honored to have their trust.”

The award came in Broad + Liberty’s first year of participating in the contest.