Come hear tips and hard-won wisdom from award-winning journalists.
Learn about Chinese-American Vincent Chin, whose 1982 murder in Detroit lit the match of the Asian-American movement.
Build your network of industry contacts and meet recruiters.
AAJA holds its National Convention Aug. 10-13 in Detroit. If you haven’t registered yet, you’re lucky: National is allowing people to get the LOWEST rates for three more weeks. The deadline has been extended to July 8.
Looking for a roommate at convention? E-mail me at sbhatt@seattletimes.com and I can let you know who else is seeking a roommate.
Here is a list of the chapter members who I know have registered or are attending on a scholarship. If you’d like me to add your name to this list, just send me an e-mail. If you see our scholarship winners, please congratulate them!
Sanjay Bhatt
Frank Blethen
Sharon Chan
Athima Chansanchai
Shawn Chitnis
Judy Hsu
Kyle Kim (VOICES scholarship)
Owen Lei
Caroline Li (Ford Foundation scholarship)
Marian Liu
Peter Sessum (Founders scholarship)
Sarah Wallace (Ford Foundation scholarship)
Sunny Wu (Ford Foundation scholarship)
If you want to share the promo video link with your friends and colleagues, here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKvJ5dx7P-Y
Congratulations to this year’s NJC scholarship recipients! On the 25th anniversary of the Northwest Journalists of Color Scholarship, AAJA Seattle was able to award nearly $5,000 in scholarships to help offset the cost of tuition, send a student to the 2011 AAJA national convention in Detroit, and help pay for off-campus multimedia storytelling courses.
(above picture, from left to right) Mary Jean Spadafora, 911 Media Arts Scholarship; Joanna Nolasco, Northwest Journalists of Color Scholarship; Peter Sessum, Founder’s Scholarship; Gina Cole, NJC Scholarship. (not pictured: Katelin Chow, who won an NJC Scholarship, made a special appearance from Barcelona, Spain, via a pre-recorded webcam message)
Seattle Times Publisher and AAJA Platinum member Frank Blethen received a “leadership in diversity” award from AAJA-Seattle and the Seattle Association of Black Journalists.
Thanh Tan of the Texas Tribune, as keynote speaker, shared her experiences as a multimedia reporter/producer covering state politics at a non-profit journalism outlet.
The Texas Tribune is a non-profit journalism startup based in Austin that relies on diverse lines of revenue to sustain its hard-hitting reporting on state government and politics.
Here’s an excerpt from Thanh’s amazing keynote speech:
Will we succeed in our mission to be a non-profit, sustainable provider of public interest news? I don’t know. Will I still have a job in a year or two? I sure hope so. When I questioned whether I wanted to venture into the unknown, I leaned on my old Nightline executive producer, Tom Bettag, for help. Here’s what he told me, “As for the future of the Tribune and its model, I don’t think anyone knows. What we know is that it is a serious attempt to do important work. If it fails, it will be a noble failure. People will respect you for having done your best to make it work.”
If you’d told me seven years ago that I would NOT be working in television news. That instead, I’d be producing and writing for an online start-up in Austin, Texas. That I would be a multi-platform journalist– I’d have said, ‘Whatever. Yeah right.’ The bottom is I’ve worked in local TV news in small and big markets. I’ve worked in public broadcasting at a local and national level. All those experiences—the good, the bad, and the ugly… led me to where I am today and make me appreciate what I have so much more. You don’t have to follow my path. Create your own future, and know that it may look nothing like what you’re envisioning right now. But the basics are the same. Just do it. Find that first break. Surround yourself with people who want you to succeed.
Keep in touch with those whose work you admire. Break a few stories. Check your facts. Seek the truth. Hold the powerful accountable. Meet your deadlines. Learn from your mistakes. Survival in this industry may well be based on your ability to adapt your stories for different mediums—so learn all you can about how print, online, and broadcast work. Try new things—but always be mindful of your mission. And know that your job allows you to wield a certain amount of power that should not be abused. Pay attention to the people around you… listen to their stories, and understand that our work as journalists often gives voice to the voiceless. That’s a huge responsibility.
Times are changing for this industry—it is a FASCINATING time to be a journalist, if you do it for the right reasons. You’ve gotten this far. I promise you that with a little help from the Northwest Journalists of Color—and all the people who are around you today– you will go on to produce work that inspires and enlightens your community.
This is just the beginning of your journey, and I am so excited for you.
Join AAJA New York member and author Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan and longtime AAJA Seattle member Terry Tazioli, host of TVW’s “Author Hour,” for a conversation about food and family in her tantalizing memoir “A Tiger in the Kitchen” at Elliott Bay Book Co., and then come to a VIP private reception/fundraiser at Tazioli’s home!
Conversation: 8 p.m. on Friday, June 10
Location: Elliott Bay Book Co., 1521 10th Avenue, Seattle (Capitol Hill neighborhood)
Based in New York, Cheryl is a freelance journalist who has worked for the Wall Street Journal, InStyle magazine and the Baltimore Sun. She has given much back to AAJA as a longtime former AAJA Governing Board member.
After growing up in the most food-obsessed city in the world, Cheryl left home and family at eighteen for America to pursue her dream of becoming a journalist. (It was proof of the rebelliousness of daughters born in the Year of the Tiger.)
But as a thirtysomething fashion writer in New York, she felt the Singaporean dishes that defined her childhood beginning to call her back. Was it too late to learn the secrets of her grandmothers’ and aunties’ kitchens, as well as the tumultuous family history that had kept them hidden before? In her quest to recreate the dishes of her native Singapore by cooking with her family, Cheryl learned not only cherished recipes but long-buried stories of past generations.
If you liked “Eat Pray Love” or you have noshed at Malay Satay Hut in Seattle, you will devour Cheryl’s book. You can check out her blog at http://atigerinthekitchen.com and follow Cheryl on Twitter @cheryltan88.
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A VIP reception with author and AAJA member Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan
Friday, June 10, 9:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.
Location: The Leschi home of Terry Tazioli, host of TVW’s “Author Hour”
We’ll be eating late-night snacks with Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan at a VIP reception immediately after her book reading at Elliott Bay Book Co. In Singapore, we call the midnight snack siew yeh. You’re invited to siew yeh with Cheryl after her reading Friday!
You’ll get personalized cooking tips from Cheryl and the New York Fashion Week style forecast straight from the one-time InStyle magazine editor.
All attendees will receive a signed copy of a new special recipe designed for Seattle foodies by Cheryl that is not in her book. You’ll also be able to purchase autographed copies of her new book at the reception.
It’s all for a great cause. Proceeds from the reception will benefit the Founders Scholarship program for the nonprofit Asian American Journalists Association Seattle Chapter.
We will also be selling tickets at Cheryl’s book reading at Elliott Bay Book Co. at 8 p.m. on June 10.
Buy your tickets today from Brown Paper Tickets! AAJA members get in for $25. Non-AAJA members pay $40. These prices do not include Brown Paper Tickets’ service charge.
Any time in June: Buy your copy of “A Tiger in the Kitchen” by AAJA member Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan from Elliott Bay Book Co. in June and the store will donate 10 percent of sales proceeds for the book to the AAJA Seattle Founders Scholarship!
You don’t need to live in Seattle to take advantage of this offer. You can order a copy of Cheryl’s book by mail from Elliott Bay and she will sign it for you while she is in Seattle on June 10! To order, call 206-624-6600 or email orders@elliottbaybook.com
The reception, which marks the 25th anniversary of AAJA Seattle’s flagship program, brings Thanh Tan from Austin, Texas, to share her experiences with this year’s scholarship winners.
Tan, a three-time NJC scholarship winner, is a multimedia reporter/producer for The Texas Tribune.
She previously worked at Idaho Public Television, a PBS station that serves a statewide audience.
While there, she was an Emmy award-winning producer/reporter/host for the longest-running legislative public affairs program in the West, Idaho Reports, moderator of The Idaho Debates, and a writer/producer for the flagship series Outdoor Idaho.
Prior to joining IdahoPTV, she was a general assignment reporter at the ABC affiliate in Portland, OR and a political reporter for KBCI-TV in Boise, ID. Her work has also appeared on the PBS NewsHour and This American Life.
She graduated with honors from the University of Southern California with degrees in International Relations and Broadcast Journalism.
On June 7, KING will host AAJA Seattle’s Northwest Journalists of Color scholarship reception. Mark your calendars now.
Each year the scholarship recognizes talented young incoming and existing college students from Washington state who have their sights set on a career in journalism. AAJA Seattle has awarded scholarships to more than 120 students, who have gone on to work for The Seattle Times, The Los Angeles Times, CBS News and Sony Pictures, among other places.
