The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is excited to launch our 2022 Community Awards! The Community Awards seek to honor the best of AAJA and recognize those in our community – members, chapters, affinity groups and changemakers – who have gone above and beyond to leave a meaningful impact on AAJA over the past two years.
For these awards, we’re taking direct nominations from our AAJA membership through this Google Form. You must be an active AAJA member in order to nominate someone for a Community Award. You may submit a self-nomination if you would like. If you’d like to submit multiple nominations, you may submit this form again for other nominees! Our board of directors and awards committee leadership will be reviewing these nominations and determining final recipients.
The deadline to submit is Thursday, June 30. All awards will be announced during the #AAJA22 convention this summer in Los Angeles, during the week of July 24-30. Please view the categories listed here and visit awards.aaja.org for more information and category descriptions.
We are currently seeking nominations for the following categories:
- Member of the Year
- Chapter of the Year
- Chapter Leadership of the Year
- Affinity Group of the Year
- Affinity Group Leadership of the Year
- Mentor of the Year
- Changemaker of the Year
- Emerging Journalist of the Year
- Community Impact Award to a Local Newsroom
- AAPI Community Impact Award
- Leadership in Diversity in Solidarity
Additionally at the AAJA gala during convention, we will be awarding a President’s Award, Executive Leadership Program Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, Suzanne Ahn Civic Engagement & Social Justice Award and AAJA Visibility Award. These awards will be determined at the Governing Board and various community leaders’ discretion; no nominations are needed.
We’d like to acknowledge all of our judges from our revamped Journalism Excellence Awards for devoting their time and their talents to our judging process. We’d also like to thank our awards committee members who have worked tirelessly to bring these awards to reality, including our leads on the Community Awards, Julia M. Chan and Benjamin Pu.
Additional committee members include: Jessica Xiao, Sinduja Rangarajan, Nirvi Shah, Jin Ding, 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 Angela Tang and Daniella Ignacio who have worked tirelessly to implement the new awards process.
If you have any questions about the Community Awards, reach out to support@aaja.org for further assistance. We’re excited to see your suggestions for nominees and celebrate our driven, dedicated membership through the Community Awards!
About AAJA’s 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.
