On Wednesday afternoon, Triad City Beat received the wonderful news that two of its stories are finalists for national awards as part of the Association for Alternative Newsmedia.

The Association for Alternative Newsmedia is a national organization made up of more than 100 independent news organizations throughout the country.

The first category in which TCB is a finalist is in the “Food Writing” category for Luis H. Garay’s “Breadwinners: A complete guide to panaderías of the Triad.” In that piece, Garay took readers on a journey through a local Mexican bakery, or panadería, immersing them in a rich culture. The piece defined different kinds of pastries customers can find at these bakeries while infusing some of Garay’s own personal experience shopping at the locations.

The second piece is nominated in the “LGBTQ+ Coverage” category. In her piece for TCB, writer Autumn Karen took a deep dive into local families’ personal journeys of what it looks like to access transgender affirming care in the Triad. The piece showed readers intimate relationships between parents and their children while explaining the current hostile political and cultural climate that the transgender community and their loved ones has to face. Read, “Finding wholeness: What trans-affirming care looks like in the Triad” here.

Last year, TCB was a finalist for three stories.

This year, the winners will be announced during the annual conference in Dallas on July 21.

For the full list of finalists in all categories, visit the AAN website here.

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