Local author and historian Stephanie Longo has received a Gold Award in the History category from the Nonfiction Book Awards, via the Nonfiction Authors Association, for her 2018 publication, “Italians of Lackawanna County,” published by Arcadia Publishing.

The Nonfiction Book Awards recognize literary excellence in more than 150 categories. The program honors books year-round, judging them based on a scoring system that evaluates the quality of the writing and production of the book. A book can receive a bronze, silver or gold award based on the final evaluation score.

Ms. Longo is known as an expert on the Italian American history of northeastern Pennsylvania and has authored several works on the subject, including Italians of Northeastern Pennsylvania, Italians of Lackawanna County and Dunmore, all published by Arcadia Publishing. A graduate of both the University of Scranton (BA, MA) and Regent University (MA), she has made it her mission to continue to preserve the history that her ancestors brought to the United States from Guardia dei Lombardi, Italy. A dual citizen of the United States and Italy, Ms. Longo resides in Dunmore and is presently the director of marketing and communications at the Greater Scranton Chamber of Commerce, as well as the book reviews editor for Ovunque Siamo: New Italian-American Writing and a current participant in the Leadership Lackawanna Core Program.