SF Chronicle, Jonathan Kauffman Top Food Writer Awards

Last week, the Association of Food Journalists descended upon New Orleans for some navel-gazing at its annual conference, and over the weekend, the group announced 42 winners at its awards competition. This year, the San Francisco Chronicle reclaimed top food section honors in the Best Newspaper Coverage (Circulation 215,001 and Over) category, topping the Washington Post and Chicago Tribune.

The individual awards were led by Jonathan Kauffman of the Seattle Weekly, who beat out Tom Sietsema (Washington Post) and Bill Addison (Dallas Morning News) in the Best Newspaper Restaurant Criticism category. Elsewhere, Kim Honey of Toronto Star won Best Newspaper Food Feature for her piece "Incredible Edibles." All winners received a whopping $300 prize for their weekend enjoyment. The complete list of winners follows:

BEST NEWSPAPER FOOD COVERAGE
Circulation Under 215,000
FIRST: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Bob Batz Jr., Food Editor, & Food Department
SECOND: Omaha World-Herald; Nichole Aksamit, Food Reporter, & Contributing Staff
THIRD: The Journal News, White Plains NY; Liz Johnson, Food Editor

BEST NEWSPAPER FOOD COVERAGE
Circulation 215,001 and Over
FIRST: San Francisco Chronicle, Miriam Morgan, Food Editor, & Jon Bonne?, Wine Editor
SECOND: The Washington Post, Joe Yonan, Food Editor & TheWashingtonPostFood Staff
THIRD: Chicago Tribune, Carol Mighton Haddix, Food Editor

BEST NEWSPAPER FOOD FEATURE
Circulation Under 250,000
FIRST: Besha Rodell, Food & Drink Editor, Creative Loafing, Atlanta, “The Food Issue—My Week of Local Eating”
SECOND: Andrea Weigl, Reporter, The News and Observer, Raleigh, “Starlu Goes Dark”
THIRD: Kristen Hinman, Staff Writer, Riverfront Times, “The Pope of Pork”

BEST NEWSPAPER FOOD FEATURE
Circulation 250,001 and Over
FIRST: Kim Honey, Food Editor, Toronto Star, “Incredible Edibles”
SECOND: Jane Black, Reporter, The Washington Post, “The Chef Who Makes Perfect Happen”
THIRD: Stacy Finz, Staff Writer, San Francisco Chronicle, “Mina?s Magic Touch”

BEST NEWSPAPER FOOD NEWS STORY
FIRST: Ben Montgomery, Staff Writer, St. Petersburg Times, “TV Chef Spiced Up His Past Exploits”
SECOND: Amanda Gold, Staff Writer, San Francisco Chronicle, “Bay Area Consumers Can?t Stomach High Price of Bread”
THIRD: Stacy Finz, Staff Writer, San Francisco Chronicle, “Kitchen Cutbacks”

BEST NEWSPAPER FOOD COLUMN
FIRST: Lisa Abraham, Food Writer, Akron Beacon Journal
SECOND: Rob Kasper, Columnist, The Baltimore Sun
THIRD: Debbie Moose, Columnist writing in the News and Observer

BEST NEWSPAPER RESTAURANT CRITICISM
FIRST: Jonathan Kauffman, Staff Writer, Seattle Weekly
SECOND: Tom Sietsema, Food Critic, The Washington Post
THIRD: Bill Addison, then Restaurant Critic, Dallas Morning News

BEST NEWSPAPER SPECIAL FOOD PROJECT
FIRST: Jane Black, Anthony Faiola, Dan Morgan & Steven Mufson, The Washington Post, “Clipping, Scrimping, Saving”
SECOND: Andrew Schneider, then Senior Correspondent, then Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “A Sticky Trail of Intrigue and Crime”
THIRD: Bill Daley, Evan Osnas, Alex Rodriquez & Christine Spolar, Chicago Tribune, “World of Change in Winemaking”

BEST FOOD FEATURE IN A MAGAZINE
FIRST: Jeffrey Schwarz, Contributing Author, Food Arts; “BLT (Busy Laurent Tourondel)”
SECOND: Gerry Dawes, Contributing Author, Food Arts; “Over the Foaming Wave”
THIRD: Patricia Mack, Writer, New Jersey Countryside magazine, “Warm Food From the Cold War”

BEST FOOD COVERAGE ON THE INTERNET
FIRST: Rebekah Denn, then Reporter, then Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “Kate?s Perfect Pie Crust”
SECOND: Rebekah Denn, then Reporter, then Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “Behind the Recipe on the Cake Flour Bag”
THIRD: Jason Wilson, Editor, Table Matters, “On the Nose—Can You Smell What I Smell?”

BEST FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY
FIRST: Steve Rice, Photographer, Star Tribune, “Mudbugs”
SECOND: Richard Stokes, Photographer, Reno Gazette-Journal, “Vodka”
THIRD: Chris Oberholtz, Photographer, The Kansas City Star, “Pickles”

BEST FOOD BLOG
FIRST: Michael Bauer, Executive Food & Wine Editor, www.sfgate.com/food
SECOND: Carolyn Jung, Writer/Editor, www.foodgal.com
THIRD: Jan Norris, Publisher/Editor, www.JanNorris.com