NAAJ Profile Winners - 2023
Category description: Entries in this category profile a family, person or animal in agriculture relevant to the target audience. The profile can convey the individual’s contributions on a local, regional or national level. Entries must include the use of more than one source. One story or package of stories (sidebars or secondary stories) published together on a single day is a single entry in this category.
Number of entries: 11
Comments about the competition: The strongest stories in the profile category provided valuable context for a look at a single individual, and that broader, reported perspective made all the difference.
Judge: Karen Stabiner is a journalist and author who for 10 years taught reporting, feature writing and food writing at the Columbia University graduate school of journalism. Her most recent book is "Generation Chef," the story of a young New York City chef as he opens his first restaurant.
FIRST PLACE — Phyllis Coulter, Illinois Farmer Today
Harvest Help: Sisters share sustainable ag, humanitarian projects — 8/6/2022
Judge’s comments: The compelling story of Illinois family farmer June Lavelle, founder of Resiliency Gardens, which promotes gardening to ease the food crisis among millions of Ukranian refugees in Poland, where Lavelle lives. An insightful piece that seamlessly connects information on global hunger, sustainable agriculture, and a small Midwestern family farm.
SECOND PLACE — Gabriel Pietrorazio, Civil Eats
This Mother-Daughter Team is Sharing Food Traditions from the Ho-Chunk Nation — 11/23/2022
Judge’s comments: Seed-saving and knowledge-sharing: A lively look at two generations working together to sustain ancestral food traditions through their non-profit, Wild Bearies, the story framed by their participation in an American Food History Project event.
THIRD PLACE — Gil Gullickson, Successful Farming
Hometown Hero, Matinee Missionary — 4/6/2022
Judge’s comments: Farmer, banker, movie mogul: The story of a latter-day Jimmy Stewart with deep – and varied – roots in his community, ones that extend far beyond his agricultural background.