Excellence in Written Reporting, Features
Ligaya Mishan, “Saving Chinatown, While Also Making It Their Own,” The New York Times
ABOUT THE WORK: The tale of gentrification and change in Manhattan’s Chinatown has, over the last decade, often been told from the perspective of the mostly white inhabitants of Dimes Square, named after a trendy health-food restaurant that opened on Canal Street in 2013. For T Magazine in the New York Times, the veteran journalist Ligaya Mishan instead tracked down more than two dozen neighborhood stakeholders — artists, activists, restaurateurs and entrepreneurs — all of them Asian American, many born in the area or nearby, to share their version of that story. Together, they’re trying to determine how to protect and remake Chinatown at a time when their own community has faced unprecedented violence and encroachment.
Ligaya Mishan writes for the New York Times and T magazine. She has been a finalist for the National Magazine Awards, the James Beard Awards, and the IACP Food Writing Awards. Her essays have been selected for the Best American anthologies in Magazine, Food, and Travel Writing, and her criticism has appeared in the New York Review of Books and The New Yorker. The daughter of a Filipino mother and a British father, she grew up in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.
Judges’ comments: "’Saving Chinatown, While Also Making It Their Own’ is a deeply reported and necessary think piece that I can see finding a place in the zeitgeist. The story is strengthened by lengthy historical context, gorgeous photography, and the nuanced, colorful and granular storytelling and writing that I expect from The New York Times and its reporters. I’m envious of how beautifully this project weaved together human voices and historical context — two pillars of great feature writing. This story is filled with delightful details and surprising anecdotes about what Chinatown meant — and means — to different generations of Asian Americans.”
Honorable Mention: Kwasi Gyamfi Asiedu and Helen Li, “California’s free prison calls are repairing estranged relationships and aiding rehabilitation,” Los Angeles Times
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