Stet News’ food and dining coverage among best in 12-state area

The regional Green Eyeshade Awards fielded a record number of entries this year.

For the second straight year, Stet News is an award-winner in a celebrated regional journalism contest.

Judges in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Green Eyeshade Awards have named Stet News writer Jan Norris and co-founder Joel Engelhardt third-place winners in the food and dining reporting category.

The award honors coverage of food trends, culinary culture and restaurant reviews. 

Stet’s winning entry highlighted an exhaustive survey of grocery prices led by Norris and Engelhardt. It also included Norris’ story about Chhauka, eight-time Michelin chef Hemant Mathur’s Indian restaurant in downtown West Palm Beach.

The grocery story ran under the headline “Let’s talk Turkey: Publix has cheaper birds, but other items gobble up savings.” It is the product of reporting on a single day by Stet writers who checked prices on more than 40 food items at 19 store locations from Lake Worth Beach to Jupiter on Oct. 28.

The Stet team followed it up in January, with “What’s in a name? Store brands save shoppers cash,” a broader comparison of grocery prices that didn’t qualify for the Green Eyeshade, which was limited to stories published during 2025. 

Norris and Engelhardt were joined in the supermarket aisles by Holly Baltz, Liz Capozzi, Donna Engelhardt, Carolyn and Bill DiPaolo, Janis Fontaine, Lou Ann Frala and Jane Musgrave.

Congratulations to the first-place winner in the food and dining category, Phillip Valys of the Sun-Sentinel, and the second-place winner, Helen Freund of the Tampa Bay Times!

The Green Eyeshade Awards recognize work by journalists in 12 states: Florida, Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Contest organizers reported they received a record number of entries for the second straight year.

Last year, Stet’s local elections coverage ranked second, and its newsletter ranked third in the contest once known as the Pulitzers of the South.

See the complete list of winners here.