The Star Tribune's Taste section dominated the features category in the competition held by the Association of Food Journalists, which met in Washington, D.C., for its annual conference. (Read the tweets, with plenty of pictures, from many D.C. landmarks, including the Library of Congress, Julia Child's kitchen at the Smithsonian and the White House garden. Yes, indeed, we were there, as well as the Swedish Embassy.) The Taste section won two of the three top spots.

Editor Lee Svitak Dean won first place for her story on making popcorn the old-fashioned way.

Rick Nelson won third place for his story, "Wild Thing" on the Minnesota farmer who raises wild boars.

For a complete list of the national winners in the AFJ journalism competition, check out this roster.