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Sayed Rahim Rahim with four of his children in his brother and cousin's apartment. Credit: Shahrzad Rasekh / CT Mirror

The Connecticut Mirror’s Laura Tillman has won first place in the Feature Writing Portfolio category of a national Excellence-in-Features journalism contest.

Tillman, CT Mirror’s human services reporter, 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 described the stories as “impeccably paced, impeccably sourced and impeccably written.”

Laura Tillman

“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.

The Society for Features Journalism was founded in 1947 and exists to promote, honor and celebrate features journalism. Outside of the annual competition, the group provides connections and hosts virtual events and conferences.

As manager of audience engagement, Gabby is responsible for CT Mirror’s digital growth. She manages our website, newsletters, search engine optimization, CT Mirror Explains product, on-site marketing, social media channels and internal data analysis. Gabby previously worked as a reporter on Patch.com’s Connecticut team and as an associate editor at The Woonsocket Call in Rhode Island. She is a Connecticut native who holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from UConn and is pursuing a master’s degree in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.