Now We're Really Cooking

New Times staff writer Robert Andrew Powell and restaurant critic Jen Karetnick have won prizes in the Association of Food Journalists' competition for stories published in 1996. The awards, presented September 6 at a banquet in Washington, D.C., are open to all journalists and are offered in two circulation divisions (under and over 200,000).

Powell won first prize in the Food Feature category for "Eat Early, Eat Cheap," an April 1996 story that delved into the history and sociology of the renowned early bird special, said to have originated in South Florida. This is the second national contest to honor Powell for the article, which also won a James Beard Foundation award in May.

Jen Karetnick's weekly restaurant reviews garnered her second prize in the Columns category, which was won by Vivian Taylor of the Fresno Bee; Jonathan Gold of the Los Angeles Times took top honors in the over-200,000 circulation category.