featured-image

The Society for Features Journalism announced Tuesday that The Seattle Times has won three national Excellence-in-Features awards . Competing in the largest division, Division 3 (among publications with a circulation at or above 200,000), food writer Tan Vinh placed third in two categories: food criticism and first-person narrative/essay. Investigative reporter Sydney Brownstone took second place in the general feature category for her story on the lost patients of an abandoned Washington psychiatric hospital.

Vinh was lauded for two starkly different stories: his quest to find the best tacos in Western Washington as well as a heartfelt essay eulogizing his friend, legendary Seattle bartender Murray Stenson . “Food styles and foodways are never confined to the regions in which they were born” one contest judge wrote of Vinh’s taco quest. “Like wildflowers, their seeds are carried on the wind by the people who found new places to bloom.



That’s the story of Washington tacos told here by Tan Vinh, a story born of days, nights and miles on the road. “I learned about taco styles, about the people who bring them to life — and the places not only from which they came, but the places they now call home. This piece is a powerful expression of the power of lists as a storytelling vehicle.

” Of Vinh’s essay on Stenson, a judge wrote that the story is “engaging and uplifting,” continuing to note that the essay “captures the essence of Murray, is well-written and ch.

Back to Food Page