Two top editors of J. The Jewish News of Northern California have won awards from the Society for Features Journalism.
Editor-in-chief Chanan Tigay won a first-place award for his feature on the role of Israeli archaeologists in the effort to identify victims of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas massacre. News editor Gabe Stutman won a second-place award for his look at how tensions over Israel tore apart a Bay Area music camp. The awards were announced Thursday.
Tigay’s story, headlined “Why Israel turned to archaeologists in its search for the Oct. 7 missing,” won first place in the General Feature category, which recognizes “excellent longform feature storytelling on topics such as [arts and entertainment], lifestyles or news.”
“This beautifully written story is one of the most haunting pieces I’ve read about Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel,” the category’s judge wrote in comments about the story. “From the suspenseful account of a young couple being murdered in their safe room to the painstaking efforts of archaeologists to find even the tiniest bits of burned human remains for burial, this story kept me holding my breath on multiple occasions as it pulled me irresistibly toward its perfect ending.”
Stutman won second place in the Inclusion & Representation in Features category, which recognizes “revelatory storytelling on any lifestyle or culture topic that centers on historically marginalized or under-covered communities,” for his story “Tension over hiring an Israeli counselor roiled a Bay Area music camp and ended friendships.”
“This extremely well-done story explores the Israel-Gaza divide both thoughtfully and empathetically,” the category judge wrote in comments about Stutman’s article.
J. competed in a division with many larger, well-resourced newsrooms such as the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Chicago Sun-Times and Houston Chronicle. The complete list of winners can be found here.