Asian American Journalists Association Announces 2001 Scholarship Recipients.

Business & News Editors

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 26, 2001

The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) announces the recipients of the 2001 Scholarships at the 14th annual AAJA national convention. "Gateway to a Changing America" is the theme of the convention, running Aug. 1-4 at the Hyatt Regency Embarcadero in San Francisco. Winners will be honored at the Gala Banquet on Friday, August 3.

National Scholarships

Scholarships of $2,000 are awarded to outstanding students interested in pursuing careers in print, broadcasting or photojournalism. This year's winners are listed below.

Marc Lester M. Carig has worked at The Press-Enterprise, the Contra-Costa Times and Filipinas Magazine, all in California. He is a journalism student at Fresno State University.

Amy Chen is a student at Northwestern University majoring in journalism. She has worked as an intern at the Contra Costa Times and as a columnist for The Journal, a community newspaper based in Richmond, Calif.

Jeff Chien is a graduate of Menlo-Atherton High School in Menlo Park, Calif. He plans to attend the University of California, San Diego.

San Heng is a University of Florida telecommunications major who has held anchor positions at the student-run radio station WRUF and worked on several productions at the school's television station, WUFT.

Emily Liu is a 2001 graduate of Spencerport High School in Rochester, N.Y. She plans to attend Ithaca College in New York this fall. Annie Nguyen is entering the University of California in San Diego. She graduated from Mt. Carmel High School in San Diego.

HongDao Nguyen has interned at the San Jose Mercury News and is a summer intern at the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer in Georgia. She attends Biola University in La Mirada, Calif.

Cindy Wong is a 2001 graduate of Coconut Creek High in South Florida and a former intern at the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale. She plans to attend the University of Florida in the fall.

Eileen Yam is a graduate student at the School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, with a focus on medical journalism. She has worked for National Geographic Magazine and aMagazine.

Yang "Kelly" Yang is a 16-year-old sophomore and political science major at the University of California, Berkeley. At age 12, she published the book "Diary of a Young American Girl", a collection of short stories; and she has two more books on the way.

Esther You is a student at American University in Washington, D.C., where she is majoring in journalism and political science. She has interned at ABC Radio in Washington and Fox KHON-2 in Honolulu.

Newhouse Scholarships

These scholarships are sponsored by AAJA and the S.I. Newhouse Foundation and are awarded to graduating high school seniors, undergraduate and graduate students pursuing careers in print journalism. Asian Americans from underrepresented ethnic groups are particularly encouraged to apply. This year's following Newhouse recipients have been awarded a total of $25,000 in scholarships.

Vonna Keomanyvong will attend the University of Kansas, majoring in print journalism. She has interned at The Kansas City Star. ($5,000)

Sotivear Sim is transferring from Los Angeles Valley College, where he was editor of the campus newspaper, to the University of California, Berkeley. ($5,000)

Sumon Dantiki is a student in the University of Michigan's honors program and an editorial writer for The Michigan Daily. ($4,000)

Sasha Khokha begins her graduate studies this fall at the University of California, Berkeley. She has worked as the communications director for the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, which is based in Oakland, Calif. ($4,000)

John Sullivan is studying at the University of Missouri's School of Journalism. He has worked at The Korea Herald and Korea Money Magazine, both in Seoul, and now interns at Newsday. ($4,000)

Raymund Lee Flandez is a University of Maryland journalism major. He writes for The Public Asian, a monthly newspaper, and the college newspaper, The Diamondback. ($2,000)

Shirley Dang is a graduate student at the University of California, Berkeley. She is interning at the Modesto Bee this summer. ($1,000)

Mary Moy Quan Ing Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship ($1,500) goes to a deserving graduating high school senior who is enrolling in college and pursuing a journalism career. This year's recipient is Michael Kwon, a graduate of Stuyvesant High School in New York and a former intern with the New York Times Foundation who assisted with the launch of an Internet project called Campus Weblines. He will attend Columbia University in the fall.

Minoru Yasui Memorial Scholarship

This scholarship ($1,500) is given each year to a promising Asian American male who is studying broadcasting. The awardee for 2001 is Thomas Michael Tran, a broadcast journalism major at Buffalo State College. He works as a radio news anchor and reporter at Metro Networks in New York and did an internship with American Radio Systems.

Internship Grant

Christopher Viola, a photojournalism student at San Francisco State University, is winner of this $1,500 grant, which is given each year to a student working as an intern at a news organization. He is interning this summer at The Arizona Republic and previously worked at The Topeka Capital Journal in Kansas and the Rutland Herald in Vermont.

The Stanford Chen Internship Fund

Named in memory of a dear friend, mentor and colleague, this fund provides stipends of $1,500 each to outstanding students pursuing journalism careers.

Awards are given to students with proven scholastic ability and journalism skills and will support them in gaining hands-on experience in small- to medium-sized companies. The grants are designed to supplement non or low-paying internships and help an intern with transportation costs and living expenses while working in small- to medium-sized markets.

The 2001 award recipients are:

Anita Chang, a mass communication major at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She served as editor for her school magazine and previously was an intern with the International Center for Journalists in Washington, D.C. Chang is currently an intern at Adweek in New York.

Neil Allen Garcia, a journalism and history major at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, Calif. He draws editorial cartoons as an intern at The Star News, Chula Vista.

Cheri Yoko Honda, a broadcast journalism major at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. She received the school's Academic Excellence Award and also the Rieke Leadership Award and has been on the Dean's List for four consecutive semesters. Honda is an intern at KHNL-TV in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Judging for this year's national competition was organized by AAJA's Florida Chapter. Scholarship Committee members include Joe Newman and Gail Rayos, Orlando Sentinel; Victoria Lim, WFLA-TV in Tampa; Ferdinand M. DeVega, Sarasota Herald Tribune; Elizabeth Lee Brown, Tampa Tribune; Karen Cody, University of Florida; Carol Reynolds-Srot, Ritu Sehgal and Roman Lyskowski, Miami Herald. Also, Deborah Howell with S.I. Newhouse Foundation has contributed to the scholarship program.

AAJA is a non-profit educational association based in San Francisco, devoted to training and developing Asian American journalists and ensuring fair and accurate coverage of the Asian American community. It has 1,700 members across the United States and Asia. For more information about AAJA or the national convention, call 415/346-2051 or visit www.aaja.org.