John Zavinski, director of graphics and technology, and Tom Fontaine, a staff writer, earned Keystone Press Awards from the Pennsylvania Society of Newspaper Editors and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association Foundation.

The awards were presented Saturday during the annual Pennsylvania Press Conference in State College.

Zavinski earned a first-place award in the graphic/photo illustration category for a graphic explanation of how to use Mercer County's touch-screen voting machines. It was published in The Herald's primary-election Voter's Guide in 2001, and The Herald reprinted 10,000 copies that the county election bureau handed out at polling places.

Fontaine earned a second-place award for investigative reporting for a package of more than 40 stories on controversy surrounding Mercer County Commissioner Brian W. Shipley last year. The controversies included Shipley's misuse of a county credit card, cellular phone and computer, among others. Shipley ultimately resigned in October.

Zavinski, 43, heads The Herald's Internet operations and is its computer-systems editor. He joined the newspaper in September 1981 as a copy editor and has also held the positions of reporter, graphics editor and front-page designer in addition to leading two redesigns of The Herald.

He graduated in 1976 from Warren (Pa.) Area High School and in 1980 with a degree in mass communication from St. Bonaventure (N.Y.) University.

Before joining The Herald, Zavinski was a reporter-photographer for the Warren Times Observer and an advertising copywriter for Blair Corp., both in his hometown of Warren, Pa. He lives in Hermitage.

Fontaine, 27, joined The Herald in 1999. He currently covers politics, county government and community news from outside the Shenango Valley. This is his second Keystone Press Award -- he won a first-place award for feature writing in 2000.

Fontaine graduated from Greenville High School and earned a bachelor's degree from Kent State University.

The awards were from competition among Pennsylvania newspapers in the circulation category of 20,000 to 34,999.