Laura Tillman, a human services reporter for the Connecticut Mirror, has won first place in the Feature Writing Portfolio category of a national Excellence-in-Features journalism contest.

Tillman was awarded the recognition by the Society for Features Journalism for a portfolio of three stories. One followed a family of Afghan refugees who arrived in Connecticut, one covered the work of a recovery coach amid federal budget cuts that put his job at risk, and one highlighted Moromi, a North Stonington-based soy sauce producer.

Judges’ Comments

Judges described the stories as “impeccably paced, impeccably sourced and impeccably written.”

“This portfolio is the epitome of strong feature writing: two huge-issue stories — one about Afghan refugees, the other about the effects of federal cuts — that are brought to life by people living through them and a third piece about a successful soy sauce brand and how it came to be,” judges wrote.

Second place in the category went to Blake Nelson of The San Diego Union-Tribune, and third place went to Maggie Menderski of the Courier Journal in Louisville, Kentucky. Stephanie Kuzydym of the Courier Journal was awarded an honorable mention.

Original reporting: The Connecticut Mirror — read the source article.