SFR Takes Home National Awards in Feature Writing, Public Service Reporting

And now for some shameless self-promotion: Last week, at the annual Association of Alternative Newsmedia convention, SFR won two (big! important!) national awards.

SFR won first place (among papers with circulation under 50,000) for freelancer Sharyn Jackson's Oct. 5, 2011 feature story, "Undercover." The story follows a self-described "fly-in abortionista"—a doctor who flies to areas that lack or have a shortage of abortion providers to perform abortions—as she traverses the United States in a crusade to provide abortions to women who want them. Jackson interviewed women about their abortions; visited with Father Stephen Imbarrato, the head of New Mexico-based Project Defending Life; and talked extensively with the doctor herself, who also won Jezebel's Woman of the Year award.

SFR won second place for public service reporting, largely by Wren Abbott, on the Santa Fe Public Schools. To access a full chronicle of our SFPS coverage over the past two years, click here.

Bonus fact: Newly minted SFR Arts & Culture Editor Enrique Limón was on hand at the AAN convention in Detroit to present the awards and dispense shots of bourbon to unsuspecting editors.