SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – South Dakota News Watch Content Director Bart Pfankuch has won a top national agricultural reporting award for a record third time.
The North American Agricultural Journalists association selected Pfankuch for the 2023 Glenn Cunningham Award, which is given to the writer of the top agricultural story of the year. Pfankuch also won the Cunningham Award in 2020 and 2021, making him the first, three-time winner in the 70-year history of the association.
The winning entry, an August 2022 two-part package on fraud and weak USDA oversight in the organic foods industry, was chosen best from winners of eight reporting and writing categories and was named tops among more than 235 entries overall.
“Bart Pfankuch’s story about organic food is so readable you can taste it,” the contest judge wrote. “This is a beautifully balanced, informative, and enjoyable read.”
In the contest, News Watch competed against journalists from numerous other outlets, including Politico, Bloomberg News, The Guardian, Inside Climate News and Progressive Farmer.
Pfankuch also won a second-place award in this year’s contest in the Technical Writing Category for a package on proposed carbon-capture pipelines.
News Watch is a statewide non-profit journalism organization located online at sdnewswatch.org
