AAJA SF is awarding $10,000 in scholarships this year to outstanding high school seniors and college students as part of its ongoing mission to encourage Asians to pursue journalism, support diversity in newsrooms and promote fair and accurate coverage of Asian and Pacific Islander communities. Students are selected based on their journalistic ability, commitment to journalism, sensitivity to Asian Pacific American issues, financial need and scholastic achievement.
We are proud to announce the 2010 scholarship recipients:
HOLLY PABLO - Holly is the winner of the Ken Wong Memorial Scholarship and will receive $2,650. She is a student at Contra Costa College, where she is editor-in-chief of the campus newspaper, The Advocate. In addition to overseeing a staff of 30, she also covers news and feature stories. Instructors praise her for her commitment, news judgment and leadership. She impressed the scholarship judges with her drive and enthusiasm. She plans to study journalism at UC San Diego starting this fall.
JANA ASENBRENNEROVA - Jana is this year’s recipient of the Willie Kee Memorial Scholarship in the amount of $2,550. Jana is studying photojournalism at San Francisco State University while interning at The San Francisco Chronicle. Her portfolio includes striking images of people and life in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She plans to spend this summer chronicling life in Nepal, where she has already made numerous contacts in anticipation of her trip. She is passionate about using her work to help foster cultural harmony.
ANNIE MAXINE “PUCK” LO - Puck shows an impressive ability to develop well-sourced, interesting pieces on complex issues such as deportation of illegal immigrants and the first community land trust in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Her reports have aired on KQED Radio News, National Radio Project and Free Speech Radio News, to name a few. Puck is a student at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and will receive a $1,600 scholarship.
JUN STINSON - Jun is studying at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where she has devoted much of her work to covering Asian American and immigrant communities in the East Bay. She has an ability to work in multiple mediums, and plans to study documentary film in the 2010-11 school year. Jun will be awarded a $1,600 scholarship.
LAUREN WILSON - Lauren is a student at Stanford University, where she reports for the campus newspaper The Stanford Daily. Lauren covers her share of hard news, but her forte is in music and entertainment. She has been freelancing for the Orange County Register since she was a high school junior, producing colorful reviews of concerts and all-day music festivals. Lauren will receive a $1,600 scholarship.
A special thanks to our volunteer judging panel: Benny Evangelista of the San Francisco Chronicle, Eric Louie of the Contra Costa Times, freelance photographer Vasna Wilson, and Charles Yoo of Salon.com.
Funding for the scholarship program comes from our annual fundraiser. Thanks to our members and sponsors for supporting our events.
Applications for the 2011 round of the scholarship program will be available starting in January 2011.
For more information about the scholarship program, contact Scholarship Co-Chairs Katherine Tam at tam_kath@hotmail.com or Pia Sarkar at piasarkar@gmail.com.