Garza wins Best of the West award

Xazmin Garza, fashion reporter for the image section of the Review-Journal, won third place for her short form feature writing in the Best of the West contest.

Garza, who hails from West Valley City, Utah, joined the Review-Journal in 2005. Locally, she's worked as editor for Where magazine and staff writer at the Las Vegas Business Press and Senior Press. She graduated from the University of Utah in 2001 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication.

Garza's "Thin Brows Bow Out" caught the Best of the West judges' eyes. "We loved the creative approach the reporter used in this story about the end of the thin-eyebrows trend. Talk about a writing challenge! Xazmin carved something clever out of a ho-hum happening. We were hooked," said the judges from the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

The Best of the West contest is recognized as the West's most prestigious. It began in 1988 and draws more than 2,000 entries each year from journalists in the 13 states from the Rockies west to Alaska and Hawaii.