Susan Petroni, Patch Staff

E-mail: Susan.Petroni(at)Patch.com

Phone: 508-315-7176

Hometown: Resident of Framingham since 2000.

Life-long resident of Massachusetts. Born and raised in Everett.

Birthday: April 30

Bio: Susan has been a journalist since high school, when she was hired by the Everett-Leader Herald to cover basketball and other high school sports.

After graduating from Boston College, Susan was an award-winning sports editor (New England Press Association (NEPA) awards) and an award-winning education reporter (named best education reporter by the Massachusetts Teachers Association) while working for North Shore Weeklies.

Next, Susan worked as a political and investigative reporter at the Old Colony Memorial in Plymouth. During her tenure, the paper won New England Newspaper of the Year from the New England Newspaper Association (NENA); and Susan won individual NEPA , Suburban Newspapers of American (SNA) and National Newspapers Association (NNA) awards. 

A  former editor of the Billerica Minute-Man, and an investigative reporter for Beacon Communications and the former Community Newspaper Company, Susan left weekly newspapers for the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Eagle-Tribune newspaper in 1994. Overseeing community journalism in more than a half dozen communities as Suburban Editor, Susan later became the Features  and Arts & Entertainment Editor. The daily newspaper was a finalist for a Pulitzer (Malden Mills Fire) and won numerous NENA & NEPA awards during her tenure.

After getting married and having a family, Susan became a freelance writer and editor. She has written for national publications like FamilyFun magazine and was editor of  Bay State Parent magazine from 2004-2008. Bay State Parent won more than 100 awards while Susan was at the helm, including being named best regional parenting magazine in North America by SNA in 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Susan also won several individual Parenting Publications of America (PPA) awards for her writing and editing.

Susan has been a presenter at New England Press Association conventions. She has done seminars on crime reporting, education reporting, sports reporting, religion reporting, covering and attracting younger readers, and investigative reporting.

Susan also has been a presenter at the national PPA convention speaking on increasing Web readership, education reporting, and engaging readers.

A multi-award winner in several journalism categories, Susan was invited to judge the Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Minnesota, New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Maine Press Awards.

Susan lives in Framingham with her husband and daughter. She does a lot of volunteer work and has been a Girl Scout leader since 2006.

An avid photographer, she is rarely seen without her camera. Susan and her family are active residents in town.