View My VisualCV Online: http://www.visualcv.com/rebekahdenn

Work History

Rebekah Denn, Freelance Writer

Edmonds, WA
Mar 2009 - Present
Freelance Writer 

 

  • I am a regular contributor to several print and online news sites and magazines, including Sunset magazine and The Seattle Times. My main focus is food writing, but my work also includes reporting on travel, books, health, and other topics of general interest.
  • I was an editorial contributor to "Modernist Cuisine," which the Wall Street Journal called "The most astonishing cookbook of our time".
  • I write weekly for The Christian Science Monitor's "Chapter and Verse" blog.
  • I write a monthly food column for Seattle's Child magazine.
  • I am a regular contributor to Amazon.com's "Al Dente" food and kitchen blog.
  • My other recent freelance work includes articles in the Washington Post, Cooking Light magazine, Veranda magazine, Seattle magazine, Edible Seattle, and The Oregonian's Mix magazine.

Intellectual Ventures

Nov 2009 - Jun 2010
Freelance writer 

 

  • I contributed to Nathan Myhrvold’s Modernist Cuisine, the 2,400-page opus that has been called “the cookbook to end all cookbooks” and “the most important book in the culinary arts since Escoffier.” My role included working with the principal authors and chefs to draft chapters and recipes. It was a fascinating, educational, and just plain fun experience.

EatAllAboutIt.com

Edmonds, WA
Mar 2009 - Present
Food writer, journalist 

 

  • Established "EatAllAboutIt.com," a blog devoted to journalism and food writing.  This work has included an increasing involvement in social media, including Twitter and Facebook.

Seattle Post Intelligencer

Seattle, WA
1998 - 2009
Food Editor/Writer, Restaurant Critic, Reporter 

 

 

  • Editor/Writer (2007-2009): Planned, developed, and wrote food and restaurant-related articles for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Established “Devouring Seattle,” which became one of the newspaper’s most popular blogs, developed and published daily entries.
  • Restaurant Critic (2005-2007): Restaurant critic for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  • Reporter (1998-2005): Covered education, features, and city reporting for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Responsible for selecting and generating coverage of statewide education issues, including standardized testing, and for reporting on the state’s largest school district. 

Gannett Suburban Newspapers - The Journal News

White Plains, NY
1993 - 1997
Reporter 

 

  • Covered education, features and government reporting.  Responsible for coverage of statewide education issues, including standardized testing, and for reporting on several school districts in Westchester County. 

Prior Work Experience

  • Prior newspaper reporting experience includes The Seattle Times and The Jerusalem Post.
  • Many years ago, I worked at the Comic Relief, honored as one of the country's best comic book stores, buying and pricing rare collectibles. 

Education

University of California, San Diego

San Diego, CA
B.A., Judaic Studies

Hebrew University

Jerusalem, Israel
Education Abroad Program

National Awards

 

  • James Beard Award, 2009: Newspaper Feature Writing with Recipes.
  • Association of Food Journalists, 2009: First and second place awards for Best Food Coverage on the Internet.
  • Greenbrier Symposium for Professional Food Writers 2009 "Edible Communities Scholarship" winner.
  • Association of Food Journalists, 2008:  Feature Writing about Food (first place).
  • James Beard Award, 2007: Best Newspaper or Magazine Restaurant Review or Critique.
  • James Aronson Award for Social Justice, 2002.
  • Emery Brownell Award for Excellence in Reporting on Equal Justice Issues 2002, awarded by the National Legal Aid & Defender Association.
  • Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award from the Death Penalty Information Center, 2002.
  • Education Writers Association research fellowship, 2002.
  • Education Writers Association, national award for investigative reporting, 2002 (2nd place).

Speaking Experience

  • Occasional guest appearances on KUOW radio discussing food-related topics on the locally produced NPR programs "KUOW Presents" and "Sound Focus" with Senior Host Megan Sukys.
  • Occasional guest appearances on KIRO radio discussing food-related topics on the locally produced radio program 'In the Kitchen with Tom & Thierry'.  This food and cooking show is hosted by Seattle food luminaries Tom Douglas and Thierry Rautureau.
  • Occasional guest speaking engagements for community organizations, journalism, and food-related classes.
  • Panelist at The International Food Bloggers Conference, Seattle, 2009.

Social Media

 

  • Fluent in social media, including Facebook and Twitter.

Interests

  • Obsessive checking of RSS feeds.
  • Backpacking -- I once spent six weeks traveling the John Muir Trail with my husband.
  • I am an avid reader, with a special interest in children's books, cookbooks, graphic novels, and general non-fiction. I obtained advance copies of the Harry Potter books, despite a well-publicized attempt to keep the books under lock and key, in order to publish reviews on the appropriate release dates. 
  • I once jumped out of an airplane at 12,000 feet, but did have a parachute.

References

  • David McCumber, Managing Editor, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

February 28, 2009

To Whom It May Concern,


This is to recommend P-I Food Editor (and writer!) Rebekah Denn.


Rebekah is an absolutely fabulous food writer -- I believe her to be one of the very best in the country. First and foremost, she's a great journalist.


Before following her passion for food, she had great success as a news reporter.  She started her nearly 11 years at the P-I on the Metro staff, where she covered education brilliantly, carving out time and energy to do significant enterprise stories even as she juggled the daily demands of editors and school board meetings.


Rebekah produced a memorable, groundbreaking series of stories on the racial disparities in disciplinary procedures in the Seattle schools that, five years later, remains one of the richest, most thoughtful enterprise reporting packages the P-I has produced.


Her work on food has been equally spectacular.  She has a large and devoted following within the P-I's readership -- as significant a following as anyone has at the paper.  She has adapted very well to the demands of digital reporting, and as food editor she has helped to plan all kinds of food content, including the popular daily recipes on the P-I's Going Out/Staying In page.


I would unhesitatingly recommend Rebekah for any writing or food-related job in which she might be interested.  She has my respect and gratitude for a job well done, and I'd love to work with her again someday.


Sincerely,


David McCumber

 

  • Colin Powers, Life and Arts Editor, Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

What a writer! What a passion for food! And, with the dying print product, she has thoroughly embraced the Web. Her P-I and personal blogs show that she’s not solely writing for an audience; she’s leading a conversation among food lovers. Her copy is sparkling, her attitude genial and collaborative. What I don’t attest to, the plethora of awards surely do. (March 25, 2009).

 

  • Contact information or further references available on request.

Eat All About It

eatallaboutitjpeg2

My current website and blog: Food, journalism, and recipes from the great Northwest.

 

Devouring Seattle

PI

 

My previous blog as the food writer at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer; this became one of the newspaper's most popular blogs.

 

James Beard Awards

Beard

James Beard Award, 2009: Newspaper Feature Writing with Recipes, for this article about the Mangalitsa pig:

James Beard Award, 2007: Best Newspaper or Magazine Restaurant Review or Critique, for the following three reviews:

AFJ Awards

AFJ

Association of Food Journalists 2009, best food coverage on the Internet. Winner of first and second place for the following two articles:

Association of Food Journalists 2008, feature writing about food.  First place for this profile of a master wild food forager:

 

Greenbrier Symposium Scholarship

Greenbrier

Greenbrier Symposium for Professional Food Writers 2009 scholarship winner:

 

Edible Communities Scholarship
This $2,000 scholarship will be awarded to a food writer of demonstrated ability whose work pertains to honoring and preserving authentic regional foodways and embodies the Edible Communities mission of "Celebrating the Abundance of Local Foods, Season by Season." Essays and narrative non-fiction with a strong personal voice are encouraged.


Education Reporting Project

An Uneven Hand

 

An award winning two month project in 2002 funded by an Education Writers Association research fellowship.  This in-depth project examined why black students were disclipined at higher rates than other students in the Seattle school district. Through statistical analysis it was shown that this disparity was not due to the social factors usually used to explain the discipline gap, but was likely due to race itself.  This project was done while covering education for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

 

The main story is here, and the entire project is here. 

 

Death Penalty Reporting

PI

 

This award winning reporting started in 1998 while I was a general assignment reporter at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and ended in 2001 after I had moved on to the education beat. An admitted murderer refused to allow his defense attorney to supply a defense or mitigating circumstances at his sentencing and requested a sentence of death. This raised questions about "state assisted sucide" and equality in carrying out the death penalty, although very little was known about this man's life.

 

I researched the convicted murderer's life, interviewed him on death row, and published an article outlining a number of items that experts said could have been effectively used as mitigating evidence at his sentencing.  This information was not presented by his defense attorney,  and when pressed by advocacy groups, the state Supreme Court refused to appoint independent lawyers to seek out mitigating evidence.

 

The story ended in 2001 when I was a public witness to his execution at the state penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington.  The articles on his execution are here and here.

 

All of the related articles can be found here.

 

KUOW Radio