Division 3 winners of 2026 SFJ Excellence-in-Features journalism awards
The Society for Features Journalism is thrilled to celebrate another extraordinary year of storytelling excellence as we announce the winners of the 2026 SFJ Excellence-in-Features Contest!
This year, journalists from across the industry delivered work that informed, inspired, challenged and connected with audiences in powerful ways. The response to the contest was remarkable: Once again, we received close to 1,000 entries.
Several categories saw especially strong participation. Our General Feature (1,000–2,500 words) category attracted 100 entries across its three divisions, with General Feature (2,500+ words) drawing 93 entries, underscoring the enduring strength of long-form narrative journalism and feature writing across newsrooms of every size.
This year, 60 judges representing a wide range of journalism backgrounds generously volunteered their expertise and time to evaluate entries. We were honored to welcome many longtime returning judges and an outstanding group of new judges, whose thoughtful evaluations helped ensure a rigorous and rewarding competition.
To everyone who entered, judged, supported and championed feature journalism throughout the year: Thank you. Your work continues to demonstrate the power of compelling storytelling and the essential role it plays in our profession and our communities.
Congratulations to all of this year's winners! We are proud to recognize your achievements and celebrate the very best in features journalism.
The following are the winners in our Division 3 category.
Click here to see Division 1 winners. | Click here to see Division 2 winners | Click here to see Combined Division winners.
DIVISION 3
Newspapers with 201 or more full-time editorial employees or magazines and web-only publications with a national or international focus.
FINEST IN FEATURES SWEEPSTAKES AWARDS
These awards recognize the publications that garner the most honors in the contest’s other 18 categories. Points are awarded in this way: 20 for first, 15 for second, 10 for third and five for honorable mention.
First place: Los Angeles Times. Twelve awards, including six seconds (General Feature – 1,000 to 2,499 Words, First-Person Narrative Essay, Feature Writing Portfolio, Feature Beat Specialty Writing Portfolio, Arts & Culture Criticism Portfolio, Special Product – Digital or Print), five thirds (Food Feature, Feature Writing Portfolio, Feature Beat Specialty Writing Portfolio, Food Writing Portfolio, Special Product – Digital or Print) and one honorable mention (Sports Feature).
Second place: The Washington Post. Ten awards, including four firsts (General Feature – 1,000 to 2,499 Words, Food Feature, Food Writing Portfolio, Arts & Culture Criticism Portfolio), one second (Sports Feature), three thirds (General Feature – 1,000 to 2,499 Words, Narrative Storytelling, Arts & Culture Criticism Portfolio) and two honorable mentions (General Feature – 999 Words or Fewer, Narrative Storytelling).
Third place: NJ.com. Seven awards, including two firsts (Feature Writing Portfolio, Narrative Video), two seconds (Food Feature, Narrative Video), two thirds (Arts & Entertainment Feature, Features Series or Project) and one honorable mention (General Feature – 1,000 to 2,499 Words).
Fourth place: San Francisco Chronicle. Four awards, including one first (Special Product – Digital or Print), one second (Food Criticism), one third (General Commentary Portfolio) and one honorable mention (Food Writing Portfolio)
GENERAL FEATURE – 2,500-PLUS WORDS
Excellent longform feature storytelling on topics such as A&E, lifestyles or news.
First place: Nadra Nittle, The 19th News, “Nory and Her Mother Were Deported Together. Then She Was Orphaned.”
Judge’s comments: This is a heartbreaking, riveting story about the journey of an asylum seeker and her daughter after they were detained by ICE and deported to Guatemala, where they had fled less than a decade earlier because of fears of gang violence. With no medical care, the mother died two months later, leaving her 18-year-old daughter as a stranger in a strange land, living in the same situation that initially made them flee their homeland. Experts weigh in on the psychological effects of detention, deportation and the teenager’s situation.
Second place: Megan Ulu-Lani Boyanton, The Seattle Times, “Washington’s ‘Constantly Squeezed’ Dairy Farms Find Cheer in Eggnog”
Judge’s comments: This is a fascinating story about the effect of tariffs on the dairy industry and the trials of farmers trying to make a profit in times of inflation. Did you know that the price of milk is tied to global markets? You will after reading this story. Excellent photos complement the piece.
Third place: Christa Hillstrom, The Atavist Magazine, “14,445 and Counting: Inside a Texas Nurse’s Quest to Document the Life and Death of Every Woman Killed by a Man in America.”
Judge’s comments: How many women go missing every year? How many turn up murdered? Those were the thoughts of Dawn Wilcox after a missing friend turned up dead, and the suspect was a man who had offered to accompany the woman to her car as a safety precaution. Wilcox looked for research on the topic and came up empty-handed, so she began collecting data herself. She went on to form Women Count USA, a repository for research on misogynistic violence and femicide. At the time of publication, the count was 14,445 fatal cases of violence against women and girls.
Honorable mention: Cara Anthony, KFF Health News, “A Surgical Team Was About To Harvest This Man’s Organs – Until His Doctor Intervened”
GENERAL FEATURE – 1,000-2,499 WORDS
Top-notch feature storytelling on topics such as A&E, lifestyles or news.
First place: Maura Judkis, The Washington Post, “The Growing Legend of the Missing Oval Office Ivy”
Judge’s comments: This exquisitely crafted feature is built on elegant writing and thoughtful reporting, which transforms an unlikely subject into a deeply compelling read. At every turn, the underlying “mystery” grows more intriguing, culminating in a killer kicker in the final two paragraphs.
Second place: Samantha Masunaga, Los Angeles Times, “Don’t Call Them ‘Extras.’ For One Night, Hollywood’s Background Actors Are the Real Stars”
Judge’s comments: An elegantly – and sensitively – handled look at how the system deals with a troubling and haunting problem. The story marries rigorous reporting with deep humanity, transforming a bureaucratic process into a profound meditation on identity and dignity.
Third place: Sophia Solano, The Washington Post, “Buc-Ee’s Just Opened Its First Virginia Location. It Is Truly a Behemoth.”
Judge’s comments: Hands down, one of the best stories I have ever read about the opening of a business. Virtually every paragraph teems with color, detail and smart turns of phrase. I’ve never been to a Buc-ee’s but, after reading this, I feel as though I have.
Honorable mention: Kevin Armstrong, NJ.com, “The Courtside Pub: Regulars Relish the Madness of Wall to-Wall Basketball Battles Waged Inside 90-Year-Old Gym in the Backroom of a Clifton Bar”
GENERAL FEATURE – 999 WORDS OR FEWER
Stellar short feature writing on topics such as A&E, lifestyles or news.
First place: Marc Ramirez, USA Today, “The Penny, America's Oldest and Most Iconic Coin in Circulation, Dies at 232”
Judge’s comments: Excellent writing shines in this thorough and entertaining story about the end of the penny. I especially like this line: “On Wednesday afternoon, the mint there formally stamped what it said would be the country’s last circulating pennies in a ceremony celebrating an icon as emblematic of the national ethos as lunch pails, piggy banks and the American Dream.”
Second place: Hannah Feuer, The Forward, “A Young Muslim Woman Moved in With a 96-Year-Old Jewish Actress – and It Was Bashert”
Judge’s comments: A delightful story about two unlikely roommates – a young Muslim woman and her older Jewish friend, a retired actor. The ending features this uplifting thought: “perhaps it’s a small sign of hope for the world.” We could use more stories with such signs of hope – however small they are.
Third place: Holly Yan, CNN.com, “This ‘Angel of Debris’ Digs Through Burnt Rubble To Find Glimmers of Joy for Fire Victims”
Judge’s comments: A well-written and uplifting story about a man who found lost treasures after the devastating California fires – and who did it all without taking payment for his services.
Honorable mention: Maura Judkis, The Washington Post, “They Don’t Need 30 Dolls. They Need Hundreds! Thousands!”
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT FEATURE
Feature treatment of an arts and entertainment topic.
First place: Stephen Humphries and Melanie Stetson Freeman, The Christian Science Monitor, “‘This Thing of Darkness I Acknowledge Mine.’ How Two Murderers Found Grace Performing Shakespeare.”
Judge’s comments: What is the purpose of arts-and-entertainment stories? Yes, they are meant to entertain. But the best ones go further, leaving readers feeling differently about themselves and their world. It’s relatively easy to fashion an entertainment piece when you have access to the star of the moment. Far more difficult is finding a story, securing meaningful access and then crafting a piece where the power comes from reporting, structure and writing. That kind of work requires real craftsmanship and talent. Stephen Humphries’ piece is exactly that kind of story. Study this opening: “Jerry Guenthner was walking through the prison yard at the break of dawn when he heard the voice. Haven’t you put your mother through enough? He spun around. Who’d just spoken to him? It was 6:15 a.m., June 6, 1990. There was no one else in the yard at the Kentucky State Reformatory, where he was four years into a 65-year sentence. It wasn’t an apparition, like Banquo’s ghost or that of Hamlet’s father. He was just having a rare moment, alone in the yard, heading to chow, admiring the traffic of clouds across an open freeway of sky. Then the voice interrupted, unbidden. It was like somebody talking into his mind. Asking a question that lanced through his core. Haven’t you put your mother through enough?” Who wouldn’t keep reading?
Second place: Tom Cardoso, The Globe and Mail, “Nathan for Me: In Search of Nathan Fielder’s Lost Film”
Judge’s comments: We don’t think of investigative reporters writing about the entertainment world unless the subject involves scandal or tragedy. But that’s exactly what Tom Cardoso does here, turning his attention to a missing 2008 U.S. election documentary by Nathan Fielder that has never resurfaced. In “Nathan For Me,” Cardoso applies his reporting instincts to the mystery and creates a piece that blends investigation with personal essay. He pulls off this story using his investigative chops – Fielder’s PR people declined six interview requests – and readers are taken along on his search.
Third place: AJ McDougall, NJ.com, “Searching for Her Mom's Lost Punk Legacy”
Judge’s comments: This well-reported and well-written story introduces a compelling character and draws readers into a subculture that is shaped by the search for something both precious and deeply personal. The piece is infused with the writer’s distinct voice and guided by her ability to immerse the reader in this world, revealing the meaning and purpose behind the search.
Honorable mention: Dan DeLuca, The Philadelphia Inquirer, “40 Years Ago, This Philly Couple Scored the Best Seats at the Live Aid Concert. Here’s How.”
FOOD FEATURE
A single story focusing on food, excluding reviews or commentary.
First place: Jenn Abelson and Jessica Contrera, The Washington Post, “The Great Egg Heist: 280,000 Eggs Disappeared From America’s Top Producer. Then Came a Ransom Note.”
Judge’s comments: Drama. Scandal. Politics. Eggs. This grand scramble of a story uses one high-profile theft to tell a much broader tale about why – for one moment in our shared American story – we paid as much for a dozen eggs as a pound of beef.
Second place: Brianna Kudisch, NJ.com, “The Untold Story of Taylor Ham: Inside a N.J. Family Legacy Tainted by Scandal, Cruelty and a Tawdry Affair”
Judge’s comments: The things we take for granted. The things we don't think about. And, yet, the things we've all eaten, will eat or once ate without knowing. They have stories to tell, and this Taylor-ham-meets- ”Dynasty”-drama rolls all those tales into one satisfying narrative.
Third place: Daniel Hernandez, Los Angeles Times, “Raw Milk Spiked With Alcohol Flows in Secret in This Immigrant L.A. Subculture”
Judge’s comments: Many points of intrigue – food policy, food culture and food evolution – pass through this one simple drink made up of goat’s milk and alcohol, and Daniel Hernandez captures it all with intimate storytelling and broad context.
FOOD CRITICISM
A single story, such as a restaurant review, that offers opinions about a topic or restaurant in the food industry.
First place: Brad A. Johnson, Oltre, “The Fresh Prince of Tchoupitoulas Street”
Judge’s comments: This could have been a nepo-baby-does-well story, but the writer provides a clear picture of how the chef rose through the culinary ranks on his own merits.
Second place: MacKenzie Chung Fegan, San Francisco Chronicle, “Thomas Keller Asked Me To Leave The French Laundry. It Turned Into My Most Extraordinary Night as a Critic”
Judge’s comments: While not a full review, this piece shows the vulnerability of the chef and provides insight into how he values and protects his team at The French Laundry, a popular San Francisco restaurant. The descriptions of the encounter between the chef and the writer bring the reader into the space.
Third place: Craig LaBan, The Philadelphia Inquirer, “Roxanne’s Second Act Is Just as Outrageous as Its First – But Now It’s as Delicious as It Is Provocative”
Judge’s comments: The writer seamlessly weaves the owner's story into the description of the meal.
Honorable mention: Lyndsay C. Green, Detroit Free Press, “Vecino, for Bringing a Taste of Mexico City to Detroit, Is 2025 Restaurant of the Year”
NARRATIVE STORYTELLING
A single story told in a narrative style, using techniques such as character development, use of dialogue, sense of place, scene building, narrative arc and adherence to theme.
First place: Emily Baumgaertner Nunn, The New York Times Magazine, “Can Anyone Rescue the Trafficked Girls of L.A.’s Figueroa Street?”
Judge’s comments: In addition to skillfully intertwined life stories – those of a woman we know only as Ana and Officer Elizabeth Armendariz – this feature also vividly depicts a side of Los Angeles that most of us would prefer not to see.
Second place: Sheri Fink and Stephanie Sinclair, The New York Times Magazine, “Noah Is Still Here”
Judge’s comments: Readers of this extraordinary feature won't forget Noah and his mother, Dr. Jacqueline Vidosh. Scaffolded by rigorous scientific explanation, writer Sheri Fink poses immense philosophical questions about life and death – and then, by so sensitively rendering Noah's story, refuses us the luxury of easy answers. The images by Stephanie Sinclair enhance the storytelling.
Third place: Monica Hesse, The Washington Post, “He Shared His Weight Loss Online. Then A Million Strangers Chimed In.”
Judge’s comments: Monica Hesse tells Ethan Barnard's story with heart, humor and verve. It is impossible not to root for this young man who is grappling with the fundamental challenge of our time: how to stay human in the internet age.
Honorable mention: Mark Johnson, The Washington Post, “Surgeons Bid for Medical First: Removing Spinal Tumor Through Patient’s Eye”
FIRST-PERSON NARRATIVE ESSAY
An essay or first-person story that demonstrates a sense of proportion and perspective.
First place: Masha Hamilton, The Atavist Magazine, “I've Gone to Look for America”
Judge’s comments: Masha Hamilton's story is a brilliant piece of reporting and a magical piece of writing. Creatively structured, it rolls along like the highway it's about – at times reassuring, at other times infuriating. Hamilton's writing and the accompanying photos by her son, Cheney Orr, complement each other perfectly. The structure is smart. Mother and son used the stories of people they met as vehicles to support themes of belonging and loss. They could have taken a more rigid chronological approach but dispensed with that idea in favor of an extremely loose chronology that allowed them to explore themes and the evolution of their own relationship. The result is a rare trifecta of excellent reporting, storytelling architecture and thematic sweep. Hamilton explores the nation's moral and political breakdown but does so in an open way. She gives readers – and writers – a masterclass in the use of symbols and metaphors. One beautiful example: Her broken relationship with her son mirrors the partisan split in America. The car camp episode is shocking and a cautionary tale. Amid the sense of loss, Hamilton also offers the readers hope.
Second place: James Rainey, Los Angeles Times, “In the Ruins of Palisades Fire, Confronting My Elusive Malibu Life”
Judge’s comments: This powerful essay about the Malibu fire is a poignant example of a personal story played out amid grand stakes. Wonderfully structured, the piece gives the reader a sense of loss and hope. On the surface, the story is about the fire in Malibu, but it's actually about something deeper – growing older, forming relationships and then losing them. It’s also about what happens when you lose a repository of those memories – in this case, a home that burned. James Rainey's storytelling skills make this a universal tale about belonging.
Third place: Jessica Bartlett, Boston Globe, “As a Health Reporter, I Thought I Could Navigate the System. My Miscarriage Proved Me Wrong.”
Judge’s comments: This is a moving piece about a health reporter's miscarriage and the pain and suffering so many others experience when they're stuck in the ER. Jessica Bartlett deftly weaves her personal story through the larger one about America's frustrating health-care system. The result is a piece that succeeds both as a narrative and as a well-argued systems critique.
Honorable mention: Rida Abu Rass, New Lines Magazine, “A Palestinian Citizen of Israel Reflects on Life in the Shadow of Genocide in Gaza”
INCLUSION & REPRESENTATION IN FEATURES
Revelatory storytelling on any lifestyle or culture topic that centers on historically marginalized or under-covered communities.
First place: John Carlisle, Detroit Free Press, “Two Square Miles: The Evolution of Hamtramck”
Judge’s comments: Journalism is often about chasing the news cycle, but in this collection of stories, John Carlisle does something quietly radical: He observes. For one year, he planted himself within two square miles of a section of Detroit and simply listened – to the community historian preserving a fading past, to newly arrived immigrants building lives and small businesses, to two brothers on their wedding day looking forward to their future. The result is a look at ordinary lives, rendered with patience and care, that tell us everything about who we are and who we are becoming. This is features journalism at its most humane and necessary.
Second place: Nadra Nittle, The 19th News, “Nory and Her Mother Were Deported Together. Then She Was Orphaned.”
Judge’s comments: Behind every policy shift and deportation statistic are the individuals and families being affected. In this expertly crafted series, the news is present but never overwhelms the people at the center of the story. At a moment when immigrant communities are living in fear, this series does what journalism must: It refuses to let them disappear.
Third place: Ghada Abdulfattah, The Christian Science Monitor, “In Gaza, a Music Teacher Sings Above the Din of War”
Judge’s comments: In a war zone, choosing to write about a music teacher singing above the sound of drones is itself an act of courage. Ghada Abdulfattah, a Gaza-based journalist, found something worth holding onto in teacher Ahmed Abu Amsha. He's not a distraction from the tragedy, but proof of what that tragedy threatens to destroy. As Abu Amsha says: “We will not cancel the music.” That statement reminds us that storytelling, at its best, is also an act of resistance.
Honorable mention: Alex Miller, Commonweal and The Economic Hardship Reporting Project, “This Friendship Saved Me”
SPORTS FEATURE
Feature treatment of any sports topic.
First place: Ryan Lenora Brown and Samantha Reinders, National Public Radio’s “Goats and Soda” blog, “They Call It Soccer for ‘Grannies.' It's Fierce – and It's Fun”
Judge’s comments: A beautiful story beautifully told, thanks in part to terrific reporting. Weaving the tale of Team Zambia through the narrative puts this one over the top.
Second place: Roman Stubbs, The Washington Post, “A Beloved Skier, an Audacious Jump and the Complex Grief Left Behind”
Judge’s comments: The well-organized structure of this story makes the most of the inherent drama, and intimate details create indelible images.
Third place: Alter Yisrael Shimon Feuerman, The Forward, “Is This Heaven or Is It New Jersey? 9 Innings of the Jewish American Pastime”
Judge’s comments: This goes to show that you can find a great story standing under a fly ball. The piece captures the spirituality of sports and serves as a lovely ode to games that are part of our culture.
Honorable mention: Daniel Miller, Los Angeles Times, “Pali High Football: A Team of Wildfire Nomads Searches for Normalcy”
FEATURES SERIES OR PROJECT
Feature treatment of any lifestyle, A&E or news topic that has multiple parts.
First place: Staff, Bloomberg, “Cancer Capitalism”
Judge’s comments: This series exposes an intricate web of profit-driven, interconnected pharmaceutical companies, medical-device manufacturers and health-care providers that prioritize financial gains over patient survival and the quality of life. The series distills a massive amount of information and makes it accessible by targeting the anxiety of life-and-death decisions. Patients don't live longer despite high-cost drugs, but the industry actively resists effective, lower-dose medications. The project also showcases the horror of implants, lucrative clinical trials, drug markups and financial devastation in pursuit of treatment.
Second place: Giulia McDonnell Nieto del Rio and Mark Arsenault, Boston Globe, “The Education of Rümeysa Öztürk”
Judge’s comments: This character study excels at grounding readers in a specific moment of trauma, its fallout and eventual resolution. The two-part series successfully evokes dread and sympathy with its cinematic framing, which humanizes a complex political issue. The stories effectively juxtapose clinical deportation policies with the vulnerable, intimate reality of Rümeysa Öztürk's daily life as a scholar and cat lover. There is an arc of broken promises, positioning her story not just as a legal case but also as a test of American ideals.
Third place: Adam Clark, NJ.com, “The Shark State: Monster Sharks Have Returned to the Jersey Shore. Is It a Nightmare or a New Golden Age?”
Judge’s comments: This investigative feature explores the complex relationship between New Jersey and its shark population, highlighting a modern golden age where conservation efforts and warming waters have led to a significant increase in shark sightings. The narrative weaves together the historical trauma of the 1916 Matawan Creek attacks – the inspiration for “Jaws” – with contemporary accounts, including a dramatic first hand report of a shark bite during a scientific tagging expedition. Ultimately, the story deconstructs a mythic villain to argue that, while these apex predators are more prevalent than ever, they remain a vital-yet misunderstood part of a healthy marine ecosystem. What really stands out is the fast-paced narrative structure and execution that makes the story read like a suspense novel.
Honorable mention: Staff, Grist, “The Disaster Economy”
FEATURE WRITING PORTFOLIO
Three stories by the same writer from any combination of feature beats.
First place: AJ McDougall, NJ.com
Judge’s comments: With wit and empathy, AJ McDougall meticulously coaxes universal truths from one-of-a kind situations. She brings scenes and subcultures to life with warmth and evocative details. Each story in this portfolio will make other writers wish they had told it first. A standout line: “After all, if Parkway rest stops can honor Jon Bon Jovi and James Gandolfini, why not Joanna Angel?”
Second place: Christopher Reynolds, Los Angeles Times
Judge’s comments: In this collection of travel features, many turns of phrase sparkle: “frothy with kitsch,” “like Kodachrome images in a slide show,” “reachable without a séance.” The portfolio exudes humor and expertise and is a true joy to read.
Third place: Corinne Purtill, Los Angeles Times
Judge’s comments: So often, science journalism risks rigidity, and medical writing tends toward the maudlin. Not here. These stories are grounded in humanity. They're creatively told. They're alive with compassion. Kudos for this line: “And in the U.S. healthcare system, not having a guarantee of payment is almost worse than not having a name.”
Honorable mention: Ghada Abdulfattah, The Christian Science Monitor
FEATURE BEAT SPECIALTY WRITING PORTFOLIO
Three stories by the same writer on one feature topic, such as arts and entertainment, fashion, food, health, religion, technology or travel.
First place: Eric Boodman, Stat
Judge’s comments: Eric Boodman's writing demonstrates a consistent patience to sit with people long enough for their lives to become the story. The piece about Malaika Milele Gardner and Erica Williams is extraordinary in its restraint, slowly revealing the stakes of a federal budget fight. The Food and Drug Administration veteran portrait is similarly disciplined, letting quiet details stack up to demonstrate the weight of thousands of layoffs. The tubal ligation reversal story threads contested science, patient advocacy, politics and one woman's history through surgery in a way that never loses the reader. In all three pieces, the sourcing is deep and the scenes are earned.
Second place: Brittny Mejia, Los Angeles Times
Judge’s comments: Brittny Mejia's portfolio demonstrates what features journalism does that daily reporting cannot: It slows down, gets close and lets people’s lives carry the stories. The farmworker piece is a genuine feat of immersion and empathy that reveals the story over sweat-soaked days in the field. The piece about the teenager detained by ICE introduces a community of characters and moves with breath-holding urgency. The ICE hiring expo piece finds unexpected humanity and contradictions without editorializing. These stories show a reporter who doesn't tell readers what to think about immigration. Instead, she puts them in the room.
Third place: Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times
Judge’s comments: Jack Dolan's portfolio is about the pull of wild places on ordinary people, and his gift is making the outdoors feel as though it belongs to everyone. The most memorable story in this portfolio centers on the recovery diver who risks his life to find strangers in dangerous water.
Honorable mention: Margi Murphy, Bloomberg
FOOD WRITING PORTFOLIO
Three stories, columns or reviews by the same writer on any food topic.
First place: Tim Carman, The Washington Post
Judge’s comments: All these pieces establish their authority from the first paragraph and remain energetic and focused until the final sentence. Tim Carman shows enormous range, and he deploys sources and research with a deft touch.
Second place: Hanna Raskin, The Food Section
Judge’s comments: I often couldn’t guess where these stories were headed as they veered from topics such as culture to U.S. patents. But every unexpected step in these pieces makes perfect sense and results in stories that are enlightening and deeply enjoyable.
Third place: Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times
Judge’s comments: These compelling stories explain the business of food and tackle the issue of race with a careful hand.
Honorable mention: MacKenzie Chung Fegan, San Francisco Chronicle
GENERAL COMMENTARY PORTFOLIO
Three columns or essays by the same writer on any human interest or specialty topic, excluding editorials.
First place: Kara Baskin, Boston Globe
Judge’s comments: The best feature columnists have a relationship with the reader. They are likable and relatable because they need to draw the reader in. Kara Baskin pulls off that trick. When she writes about her son's tryout for the basketball team, the reader is cheering for her son, in large part, because they're pulling for Baskin. When she writes an advice column to her son, it works because she hints at her own shortcomings at that age and doesn't turn the column into an opportunity to lecture. And when she writes about the nonstop pace of after-school activities, she finds research and talks to real parents. The extra effort makes for stronger anecdotes than, say, quickly grabbing Facebook comments. In short, it creates a community, it builds trust and it leads the reader to a journalist who feels like they understand them. Really, isn't that what so many of us want?
Second place: Laura Yuen, The Minnesota Star Tribune
Judge’s comments: Laura Yuen challenges her readers more than any entry in this category. She clearly spends much time reporting, convincing people who have little benefit in telling their stories into talking with a journalist. She shares her own point of view without distracting from the story she is telling. And, at the end of each piece, the reader can't be sure of where Yuen is going to end up. But the answer appears to be that she often wants the community to be better and do better. It’s a hard line. And because she knows the nuances of the neighborhoods she's writing about, each column feels like a definitive win for Minnesota.
Third place: Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
Judge’s comments: Every city has quirks and lore, and every city needs a journalist like Peter Hartlaub to keep those stories alive. To understand what San Francisco is today means understanding what the city once was. Hartlaub's deeply researched and entertaining columns create a sense of place in an unexpected way.
Honorable mention: Stephanie Farr, The Philadelphia Inquirer
ARTS & CULTURE CRITICISM PORTFOLIO
Three columns, essays or reviews by the same writer on any arts and entertainment topic, including dining reviews but excluding editorials.
First place: Philip Kennicott, The Washington Post
Judge’s comments: Strong openings carry readers into these top-notch stories; the lede to the slavery piece is especially wonderful. The stories are informative, descriptive and filled with thoughtful discussion. The closing paragraphs range from strong ones that make readers think (the Kennedy Center story) to a story with a wonderful summary ending (the Parade piece).
Second place: Mary McNamara, Los Angeles Times
Judge’s comments: These stories feature exceptional ledes. The pieces delve into Rob Reiner’s real personality, the evolution of the TV hit “The Bear” and descriptions that support the writer's views about the “Sex and the City” sequel “And Just Like That.” The endings perfectly sum up each piece, and the kicker to the Reiner story is particularly stellar.
Third place: Chris Richards, The Washington Post
Judge’s comments: Chris Richards knows how to draw readers into a story. He weaves interesting facts into his writing and provides critical analysis. He uses wonderful turns of phrases, politely pans Bruce Springsteen and wraps each story up with a bow.
Honorable mention: Rohan Preston, The Minnesota Star Tribune
SPECIAL PRODUCT – DIGITAL OR PRINT
The best example of anything outside of regular coverage. Could be a one-time publication or published more often, but not a recurring weekly product.
First place: Brontë Wittpenn, San Francisco Chronicle, “A Family's 100-Year Fight To Free a River”
Judge’s comments: The journey on our screen begins with a photo of a girl and a river running behind her, and then the words she was told: “If the Klamath River salmon die, so will the Yurok people.” The interactive journey proceeds – with riveting words and visuals – about that girl, who is continuing her family's 100-year fight to save the fish. With every scroll, we learn more about the government’s attempted destruction of a people and a river. Brontë Wittpenn beautifully tells the story of a family’s quiet revolution. And the result is journalistically revolutionary: In an age of scrolling, here is a story built just for that.
Second place: Staff, Los Angeles Times, “L.A.’s Double Disaster Left Thousands of Scars, and the Healing Will Take Years”
Judge’s comments: This package wraps up a year of devastation in the wake of the historic fires in California. The sobering design is perfect, with white space that feels like emptiness. The rest of the space is filled with unforgettable photos and service journalism about lessons to be learned – essential reporting on infrastructural failures. Stories also highlight people losing more than a home but finding the will to go on and neighbors coming back to nothing but nonetheless coming back. Tragedy teaches many lessons, this staff knows, including perhaps the most important one about the unflagging human spirit.
Third place: Staff, Los Angeles Times, “Imagining a Future L.A.”
Judge’s comments: Maybe it's no coincidence that, in a year of tragedy, this staff delivered several strong special products. Here is a gorgeously designed project that seeks answers to big questions about the future, which inevitably will involve more fires. Along with environmental issues, there are economic and social ones to solve. And there is much to celebrate as well. Hence, the stories cater to an array of interests, including arts, history – and even fiction! As for the future? Whatever happens, it seems clear that the LA Times will be there to deliver.
Honorable mention: Morgan Lieberman, Tamiko Nimura and Chiyo Sanada, Long Lead, “The Age of Incarceration”
