In a sea of lip service, bias by omission and “fake news”, Cyril Mychalejko is a champion of media truth-telling which stretches back to his youth and formation rooted in Bucks County.
This year’s Bucks Pioneer Award goes to Mychalejko for making journalism a powerful form of community service, as well as to the African American Museum of Bucks County for its visionary leadership, perseverance, and community impact.
On Saturday, the NAACP’s Bucks County Branch honored the Bucks Pioneer Award recipients, as well as its Community Service Award honorees Doreen Stratton, Nina Coffey, and Heidi Roux at its 75th annual Freedom Fund Banquet.
“Cyril Mychalejko has made journalism a powerful form of community service — amplifying voices too often overlooked, confronting injustice and giving Bucks County residents the information they need to participate in civic life,” said Bucks County NAACP President Adrienne King.
Mychalejko said was floored when he heard the news of the award.
“This Pioneer Award is such an honor not only because of the gold standard the Bucks County NAACP already sets in serving the community, but also because of the other extraordinary awardees also being honored – the African American Museum of Bucks County, Doreen Stratton, Nina Coffey, and Heidi Roux,” Mychalejko said.
Difficult news stories can be tough to tell. Telling them effectively can be even harder. That starts with listening to the community. Uncovering facts that make many uncomfortable – while covering marginalized and often dismissed communities – is a hallmark of Mychalejko’s work – and his Bucks County Beacon leadership as editor-in-chief.
“While the theme for this year’s Freedom Fund Banquet is ‘We the People’, my guiding principle in editing and leading the Bucks County Beacon has always been ‘We the Media’,” Mychalejko said. “I’ve strived to make the Beacon an outlet that centers voices in the community … to make sense of the issues we’re grappling with and to provide potential solutions. The reporting and analysis we publish aims not only to educate, but also to act as a catalyst for community organizing and action, leading to change guided by racial, economic and social justice.”
Mychalejko’s dedication to journalism and his advocacy work has taken him on a diverse journey across the country and the world; from his childhood home in Holland, Bucks County to stops in Seattle, Cheyenne River reservation, Chicago, Florida, Central and South America, and even the Middle East. But his heart always remained in Bucks County.
Since becoming editor-in-chief of Bucks County Beacon in March 2022, Mychalejko’s leadership has helped grow the independent online publication to reach hundreds of thousands of visitors each year and earn attention and citations from national media outlets.
This year Bucks County Beacon became a host newsroom partner with Report for America, a national news service program that places emerging and early career reporters with local newsrooms to focus on under-reported topics, issues and communities. In 2025, Bucks County Beacon was selected from scores of applicants to join a nationwide Associated Press local newsroom pilot program.
A long and winding career
From his role as editor-in-chief of the Centurion student newspaper at Bucks County Community College to internships in Chicago and living on Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota for a writing and research project, Mychalejko’s curiosity and compassion for others from the time he was a college student fueled his interest and path in social justice and advocacy journalism.
In 2021, he was invited to write a bi-weekly column for Bucks County Courier Times to offer a counter-perspectives to then MAGA columnists JD Mullane and Dom Giordano, which helped him build an audience locally. This was after he had been abroad for years, with stops including working as a human rights accompanier for an anti-mining leader fighting a large-scale copper mine in Ecuador’s tropical Andes, editing digital magazine Upside Down World about politics and activism in Latin America, and working at a South American news agency — experiences that gave Mychalejko insight and perspectives he brought to his work editing and building the Bucks County Beacon.
Barbara Simmons, co director of The Peace Center in Langhorne, has known Mychalejko since his high school years. “Cyril’s commitment to Bucks County is deeply personal,” she said.
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Born and raised in Bucks County, he attended St. Bede Elementary School and Council Rock High School. He went onto to Bucks County Community College, where he first found his journalistic voice as as a reporter and then editor-in-chief of the Centurion student newspaper before transferring to and graduating from The Evergreen State College. An internship with The Chicago Reporter—an investigative magazine covering race and poverty in Chicago and Cook County—became a formative experience: he worked under a staff reporter writing a series of articles about racial disparities in drug sentencing in Chicago and surrounding Cook County. Using court data, the Chicago reporter showed that Blacks and Latinos received harsher sentences than whites convicted of the same crimes.
Simmons said Mychalejko’s vocation to inform local citizens and communities, challenge injustice and create space for meaningful civic engagement “embodies the NAACP Bucks County’s enduring mission of equity, opportunity and collective progress.”
She said service to community and leadership isn’t measured only through professional positions. Mychalejko brings stories to the public that need to be seen and heard, elevates concerns and demonstrates how dedication to craft makes “justice visible.”
“Whether the subject is public education, civil rights, local government or threats to democracy, Cyril understands that these are not simply political stories … At a time when local journalism is increasingly under pressure, Cyril reminds us why it matters. A community cannot hold its institutions accountable if its residents don’t know what is happening within them.” – Peace Center Executive Director Barbara Simmons
Mychalejko’s willingness to ask difficult questions, challenge those in positions of power and bring attention to unreported issues – or those that may only receive “surface level” coverage – distinguishes his approach, added Simmons.
“Whether the subject is public education, civil rights, local government or threats to democracy, Cyril understands that these are not simply political stories. They are stories about people, their rights, their opportunities and their everyday lives,” Simmons said, “At a time when local journalism is increasingly under pressure, Cyril reminds us why it matters. A community cannot hold its institutions accountable if its residents don’t know what is happening within them.”
At Bucks County Beacon, Mychalejko has consistently created space for uncomfortable conversations that “are absolutely necessary.”
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“He recognizes that there are stories worth telling even when they challenge the prevailing narrative or make powerful people uncomfortable,” Simmons said.
She applauded NAACP Bucks decision to honor Mychalejko and his “overall body of work” along with the continued commitment to keep Bucks County informed.
“We recognize the depth of his reporting, his understanding of our community, and his persistence in following stories that deserve public attention. This recognition is not about agreeing with every perspective or position expressed in his reporting. It is about recognizing the value of a journalist who is willing to do the work, ask the questions and shine a light where it is needed,” Simmons added.
