Richmondside took first place in the 2026 Society of Features Journalism awards for a piece by intern Thomas Lyons on the pre-dawn regulars at Andy's Donut Stop in Richmond — paramedics, Chevron workers, gamblers, and people who'd rather point than talk.

A donut shop on 23rd Street in Richmond — where, a national panel of journalism judges noted, "one can successfully conduct commerce by pointing and grunting" — just earned first place in the 2026 Society of Features Journalism awards.

The prize went to Richmondside, the Cityside-affiliated outlet, for a piece its summer 2025 reporting intern Thomas Lyons wrote after spending a night at Andy's Donut Stop. Lyons and freelance photographer Carla Hernández Ramírez documented who turns to the shop when few other places are open: paramedics, Chevron workers, gamblers spending casino winnings, tired parents on an early shift. The story ran in East Bay Nosh in October 2025 and took the top spot in the food feature category for Division One — covering newsrooms with 50 or fewer full-time editorial staff.

The SFJ judges, announcing the award June 9, quoted a passage from Lyons that describes the shop after 6 a.m.: "The shop is now a tool, a transition space, a task before work — no longer a destination for the determined or destitute. A liminal space, not a third one."

The Society of Features Journalism, founded in 1947, runs an annual national contest across categories of writing, photography, video, and design. A first-place food feature honor in Division One puts Richmondside — a young outlet covering one of the Bay Area's most underreported cities — in company with established metro newsrooms that compete in the same bracket.

Andy's Donut Stop on 23rd Street is still open. The night shift still runs.