AAJA Announces 2022 Journalism Excellence Awards

The Asian American Journalists Association is proud to announce the winners of our 2022 Journalism Excellence Awards. Our Awards Program underwent restructuring over the past year in the spirit of innovation and boldly moving forward. These awards return to honor the best of journalism over the past two years, recognizing works produced by AAJA members in 2020 and 2021, making for a combined total of 46 awards from both years. Visit our updated awards website to learn more details about each individual award recipient and their impactful work, and look out for more social media highlights of awards winners throughout August after convention. 

We’d like to acknowledge our awards committee members who have worked tirelessly to bring these awards to reality. These members include: Jessica Xiao, Julia M. Chan, Sinduja Rangarajan, Nirvi Shah, Jin Ding, Ben Pu, Nicole Dungca, Alex Wong, Shirley Qiu, Vivian Toy, Naomi Tacuyan Underwood, Sofia Koyama, Esther Gim and Parul Hinzen. Thanks, in addition, to AAJA-HQ staff Daniella Ignacio, April Siruno, Angela Tang, Joseph Malasa and Anissa Deol, who have worked tirelessly to implement and carry out the final stages of the new awards process. And a special thank you to all of our judges for these awards. We are thankful for their tireless efforts, their eyes for recognizing exemplary reporting and their adaptability to new platforms for assessing awards.

In addition to the Journalism Excellence Awards, we’ve also developed new Community Awards (formerly Membership Awards), which we will announce after gala at #AAJA22. Our new categories continue to honor members of the AAJA community as well as community leadership.At #AAJA22’s opening reception, our Excellence in Journalism categories winners were proudly on display, saluting the incredible work of our membership across just about every medium and subject. We honor all awards recipients listed below: 

2021 Journalism Excellence Awards (Works Produced in 2020):  

Journalism Excellence By Medium: 

Journalism Excellence in Written Reporting, News

  • FINAL WINNER: Cecilia Lei, “The Pandemic Resilience of San Francisco’s Asian American Communities” (1 / 2 / 3), KQED 

  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Sonia Paul, “How Hindu Nationalism Could Shape the Election,” Politico Magazine

Journalism Excellence in Written Reporting, Features

  • FINAL WINNER: Ann Babe, “Tune In, Drop Out,” Rest of World

  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Tracy Jan, “What Reparations Mean to One American Family,” The Washington Post

Student Excellence in Written Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Hannah Miao, “Often overlooked, Asian American Christian voters could be key in Georgia Senate runoffs,” CNBC
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Amanda Lan Chu, When it comes to child care, Georgetown must step up, Georgetown Voice

Excellence in Photojournalism, Single Photo 

Excellence in Photojournalism, Photo Story 

Student Excellence in Photojournalism, Single or Photo Story 

Journalism Excellence in Video Storytelling, Short-Form 

  • FINAL WINNER: Hannah Tran, “A Dream Deferred,” Rocky Mountain PBS
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: David Ono and Jeff McIntyre, “FACEism: The Only One,” KABC-TV

Journalism Excellence in Video Storytelling, Long-Form & Programs 

  • FINAL WINNER: Aisha Sultan, “33 and Counting,” Nine PBS – St. Louis
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: N/A

Excellence in Audio Storytelling, News Feature

  • FINAL WINNER: Esther Yoon-Ji Kang, “The Killing Of Two Chinese Men Ignites Anti-Black Sentiment In Chinatown,” WBEZ
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Naina Rao and Maggie Mullen, “How Did Wyoming’s Suffrage Movement Affect Women Of Color?,” Wyoming Public Media

Excellence in Audio Storytelling, Long-form

  • FINAL WINNER: Molly Solomon and Erin Baldassari; Sold out – Rethinking Housing in America; KQED News
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Heidi Shin, Shaina Shealy, Renzo Garrio, Mark Ristich and Glynn Washington, “Haenyeo,” Snap Judgment

Student Excellence in Audio Storytelling 

  • FINAL WINNER: Jadenne Radoc Cabahug, “Teens are warning each other about sex trafficking on TikTok. Here’s why the videos could do more harm than good,” KUOW 94.9 FM
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Sarah Pham, “A poem for my mother, a Vietnam boat refugee,” RadioActive Youth Media podcast/kuow.org

Excellence in Online/Digital Journalism: Engagement 

  • FINAL WINNER: Lauren J. Young (with Kerry Klein, Alexa Lim, Kyle Marian Viterbo, Elah Feder, Daniel Peterschmidt, Nadja Oertelt and Lois Parshley), “A Fever In The Dust,” Science Friday
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: N/A

Excellence in Online/Digital Journalism: Data 

Excellence in Online/Digital Journalism – Immersive Storytelling

  • FINAL WINNER: Umi Syam, “Chinatown, Resilient and Proud,” The New York Times
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Erika Schultz and Corinne Chin, “Disappearing Daughters,” The Seattle Times
Journalism Excellence By Subject: 

Excellence in Investigative Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Robert Perez and Agnel Philip, “Promised Land” (1 / 2 / 3), Honolulu Star-Advertiser and ProPublica
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: tie: Sarah Belle Lin, Darwin BondGraham, Jonah Owen Lamb, “Did OPD violate its own policies against protesters? We investigated,” The OaklandSide and Nia Wong,  “Molest Me Mondays,” KXLY-TV

Excellence in Sports Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Andrea Hsu, “For Fans Hungry for Baseball, Taiwanese Announcer Made Right Call in Unusual Season,” NPR
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Wufei Yu, “China is an Underrated Rock Climbing Paradise,” Outside

Excellence in Science / Environment / Health Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Usha McFarling, Series on how COVID-19 impacted marginalized communities (1 / 2 / 3), STAT
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: David Ono, “Hiroshima Bomb Survivor,” KABC

Excellence in Arts & Culture / Entertainment Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Zeyi Yang and Meaghan Tobin, “China’s Subtitle Army,” Rest of World
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Carren Jao and Mia Nakaji Monnier, “’In Plain Sight’: 80 Artists Take Over the Skies in Support of Immigrant Rights,” KCET

Excellence in Political Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Jessica Prois, Alexia Fernández Campbell, Alex Ellerbeck, Kimmy Yam and Jamie Hopkins, “Federal agencies are doing little about the rise in anti-Asian hate” (1 / 2 / 3), NBC Asian America and the Center for Public Integrity 
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: N/A

Excellence in International Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Shen Lu, “Death of a Quantum Man,” The Wire China
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: N/A

Excellence in Pacific Islander Reporting 

  • FINAL WINNER: Anita Hofschneider, “Hawaii’s Pandemic: Hardest Hit Communities” (1 / 2), Honolulu Civil Beat
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Lagipoiva Cherelle Jackson, “Pacific Islanders in US hospitalised with Covid-19 at up to 10 times the rate of other groups,” The Guardian

Excellence in Business/Consumer/Tech Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Rosalie Chan, “Students say that Holberton School, is more like ‘Lord of the Flies,'” Business Insider
  • FINAL RUNNER-UP: Tracy Jan, “A New Gentrification Crisis,” The Washington Post

Excellence in Commentary / Op-Ed / Perspective

  • FINAL WINNER: Shen Lu, “Scallion Dutch Baby: How I Revised My Recipe for Home,” ChinaFile
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Yangyang Cheng, “Of the Virus and God, Orange Peels and the Party,” The New York Times

 

2022 Journalism Excellence Awards (Works Produced in 2021): 

Journalism Excellence By Medium: 

Journalism Excellence in Written Reporting, News

  • FINAL WINNER: Nicole Hong, Corina Knoll, Juliana Kim, Jonah E. Bromwich, series: “Violence Against Asian American Communities” (1 / 2 / 3), The New York Times 
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Jessi Prois, Kimmy Yam, Hanna Park and Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil, series: “Violence against Asian Americans and why ‘hate crime’ should be used carefully” (1 / 2 / 3), NBC News

Journalism Excellence in Written Reporting, Features

  • FINAL WINNER:  Zhaoyin Feng, Xinyan Yu and Jessica Lussenhop, “Chinese dreams on Native American land: A tale of cannabis boom and bust,” BBC 
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Taylor Moore, “A silence louder than words,” Chicago Reader

Student Excellence in Written Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Simon Levien, “The Crimson Klan,” The Harvard Crimson
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Roshan Fernandez, “Once the soul of the sport, short track auto racing must reinvent itself in order to survive,” Richmond Times-Dispatch

Excellence in Photojournalism, Single Photo 

Excellence in Photojournalism, Photo Story 

Student Excellence in Photojournalism, Single or Photo Story 

Journalism Excellence in Video Storytelling, Short-Form 

  • FINAL WINNER: Mantai Chow, “Friendship is free: The beloved surplus store saved by New Yorkers,” South China Morning Post
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Anna Kook, “‘I Shouted For Help, But Nobody Helped Me’: Asian Americans Are Under Attack,” AJ+

Journalism Excellence in Video Storytelling, Long-Form & Programs 

  • FINAL WINNER: Suzanne Joe Kai, “LIKE A ROLLING STONE: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF BEN FONG-TORRES,” StudioLA TV
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Staff of ABC News, “20/20 Murder in Atlanta: Stop the Hate,” ABC News

Student Excellence in Video Storytelling, Short or Long-Form 

  • FINAL WINNER: Hannah Zhihan Jiang, “Stakes are high for AAPIs as Supreme Court reviews Texas abortion law,” The Yappie; Medill News Service
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Seiji Yamashita, “Medical Student Overcomes Trauma from Anti-Asian Attack,” New York City Lens

Excellence in Audio Storytelling, News Feature

  • FINAL WINNER: Heidi Shin, “Oakland’s Chinatown finds solutions to hate crimes,” PRX/WGBH The World
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Molly Solomon, “How a Landless Native American Tribe in California Is Housing Its Homeless Members,” KQED

Excellence in Audio Storytelling, Long-form

  • FINAL WINNER: Lawrence Wu, “Our Own People,” Throughline (NPR)
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Justine Jiayun Li Yan and Gregory Warner, “We Already Belong: A Conversation With R.O. Kwon,” Rough Translation (NPR)

Student Excellence in Audio Storytelling 

Excellence in Online/Digital Journalism: Engagement 

Excellence in Online/Digital Journalism: Data 

  • FINAL WINNER: Mohamed Al Elew, “Banking on Inequity: Which Neighborhoods Were Neglected by the Paycheck Protection Program,” Reveal from the Center for Investigative Journalism (1 / 2 / 3)
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Tie: Surya Mattu (with Aaron Sankin, Dhruv Mehrohtra, Annie Gilbertson, Dell Cameron, Josh Lash, Daniel Lempres and Evelyn Larrubia, “Prediction: Bias” (1 / 2), The Markup, in partnership with Gizmodo; Leon Yin, Adrianne Jeffries and Evelyn Larrubia, “Amazon’s Advantage” (1 / 2 / 3), The Markup

Excellence in Online/Digital Journalism – Immersive Storytelling

  • FINAL WINNER: Daniel Wolfe, Drew Kann and Renee Rigdon, “The Southwest’s most important river is drying up,” CNN
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Yutao Chen (with Isabelle Khurshudyan, Mary Iluyshina, Natalya Abbakumova, Robin Dixon, Brian Murphy, Arthur Bondar, Suzette Moyer, Chloe Coleman, Jason Aldag, Dylan Moriarty, Melissa Ngo and Lauren Tierney), “On Moscow’s Tverskaya Street, a front-row seat from czars,” The Washington Post

Student Excellence in Online/Digital Journalism 

  • FINAL WINNER: Maya Homan, “Crumbling concrete, leaky ceilings: Twitter watchdogs chronicle disrepair on the MBTA,” Boston Globe
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Owen Berg, “The cost of anti-Asian racism,” Oxford Stories
Journalism Excellence By Subject: 

Excellence in Investigative Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Saurabh Datar, Shannon Dooling, Beth Healy, Christine Wilmsen, Sarah Blustain, “It’s Easy For Police To Seize Money. Worcester’s District Attorney Makes It Hard To Get It Back,” WBUR and ProPublica (1 / 2 / 3)
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Eileen Guo, Karen Hao, Jess Aloe, “The US crackdown on Chinese economic espionage is a mess. We have the data to show it,” MIT Technology Review (1 / 2 / 3)

Excellence in Sports Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Wufei Yu & Will Ford, “172 Runners Started This Ultramarathon – 21 Of Them Never Came Back,” Runnersworld
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Barbara Corbellini Duarte & Edris Lutfi, “Why MMA Fighters in Afghanistan Fear The Return of the Taliban,” Insider News

Excellence in Science / Environment / Health Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Yangyang Cheng, “We’re Not Ready for the Next Pandemic,” Vice
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Rachel Ramirez, “This Colorado community was proof an all-electric, net-zero future is possible. Now that vision is under siege,” CNN

Excellence in Arts & Culture / Entertainment Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: “Still Standing” Team (Barbara Corbellini Duarte, Meg Teckman-Fullard, Julia Press, Susumu Miyazu, Amelia Kosciulek, Liz Kraker, Kantaro Komiya, Mark Abadi, Daniel Allen, Erica Berenstein, Yasser Abu Wazna, Havovi Cooper, Reem Makhoul, Dylan Barth, Prakhar Deep Jain, and Adarsh Singh), Series: “Still Standing,” Works: “How One of Japan’s Oldest Businesses Has Served Roasted Mochi for Over 1,000 Years”; “How Families in India are Keeping a 500-Year-Old Liquor Tradition Alive”; “How One Family Kept a Palestinian Pottery Tradition Alive in Gaza”; Insider Inc./YouTube (1 / 2 / 3)
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Tiffany Liou, “Spirit of Vietnam,” WFAA

Excellence in Political Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Rishika Dugyala, Beatrice Jin and Peter Canellos, “Trauma and Trump make Asian American voters a more cohesive bloc, new poll reveals,” POLITICO
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Carmen Vicencio, “America ReFramed: Brooklyn Inshallah,” WORLD Channel, American Documentary, Inc.

Excellence in International Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Neeti Upadhye, “Inside A Secret Safe House for Dalit Rape Survivors,” Brut India
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Thanh-Giang H. Nguyen, “Father of Essex truck victim: I’d send my children from Vietnam again” (1 / 2 / 3), Radio Free Asia Vietnamese Service

Excellence in Pacific Islander Reporting 

  • FINAL WINNER: Robert Perez, “Promised Land” (1 / 2 / 3), Honolulu Star-Advertiser and ProPublica
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Anita Hofschneider, “Police Killing Of Micronesian Teen In Hawaii Prompts Grief And Questions,” Honolulu Civil Beat

Excellence in Business/Consumer/Tech Reporting

  • FINAL WINNER: Brian X. Chen, “The Cost of Being an ‘Interchangeable Asian,’” The New York Times
  • FINAL RUNNER-UP: Molly Solomon, Grandma Challenges Real Estate Giant in Early Test of New California Law, KQED

Excellence in Commentary / Op-Ed / Perspective

  • FINAL WINNER: Harry Mok, “Opinion: I was the Asian kid in a California farm town. Here’s what it taught me about belonging,” The San Francisco Chronicle
  • FINAL RUNNER UP: Joseph Hernandez, “Self Love is an Egg Sandwich with Hot Sauce,” The Philadelphia Inquirer

About AAJA Awards: 

The Asian American Journalists Association has honored excellence in journalism since 1987. The AAJA Journalism Excellence Awards are bestowed to members for thoughtful reporting, thorough coverage and strong storytelling. AAJA also honors members and organizations who champion the spirit of community through their chapter and affinity group leadership; their diversity, equity, and inclusion work; and through their life’s work. To learn more about awards, visit our awards website

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