The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is proud to announce the spring 2026 recipients of our scholarships, internships, grants, and fellowships. Thank you to our judges, partners, guardians, and sponsors who contribute in various ways to make these opportunities impactful.
ABC News / AAJA Alexa Valiente Summer Internship & William Woo Print and Online News Internship Grant
RECIPIENT: Riddhi Bora
Riddhi Bora is a rising senior at The University of Texas at Austin majoring in journalism. She will serve as a Summer 2026 ABC News intern. Currently, she’s an audience engagement fellow at The Texas Tribune, where she focuses on explaining Texas politics in easily digestible ways through guides, newsletters and social media. Additionally she is a news intern with NPR’s Texas Standard where she produces audio stories and writes articles relating to all things Texas. Previously, she served as a Life and Arts reporter and editor for The Daily Texan. As a reporter she focused on feature writing and as an editor she led and managed the Life & Arts department. She’s also interned at Tribeza Magazine and was a freelance reporter for Shift Press News. Riddhi is the president of UT Austin’s AAJA chapter. In her free time, she enjoys reading, photography, dancing and watching movies.
Learn more about Riddhi here: Instagram | LinkedIn | Website
White House Correspondents’ Association Scholarship
This scholarship is co-sponsored by the WHCA and the Asian American Journalists Association.
RECIPIENT: Aina Marzia
Aina Marzia is an independent journalist covering intersectional politics and movements and a student at Princeton University studying Anthropology on the Law track with minors in Latin American Studies and Journalism. Her work has been seen in Al Jazeera English, The Nation, Teen Vogue, Business Insider, The New Republic, The New Arab, The Daily Beast, The American Prospect, Grist, Yahoo, VICE, and on NPR and elsewhere. She was previously a fact-checking intern at In These Times and a 2024 Puffin Writing Fellow at The Nation. Aina is a recipient of the 2024 Mary Quon Ing Moy Memorial Scholarship from the Asian American Journalists Association and the 2024 Scholastic Gold Medalist for her journalism portfolio, “Classrooms: The New Political Playground,” awarded by The New York Times.
Anna Chennault Scholarship
RECIPIENT: Javon Huynh
Javon Huynh is a graduate student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an early-career documentary filmmaker and journalist. Raised in a multicultural household, he draws on his African American and Vietnamese roots to shape the perspectives and stories he brings to his work. He began his career in CNN’s prestigious News Associate Program, where he built a foundation in multimedia reporting that continues to inform his approach.
Huynh is committed not just to amplifying marginalized voices, but to highlighting the experiences that have always existed yet often go unheard. His work explores the intersections of identity, community, and social justice, blending intimate storytelling with rigorous reporting to illuminate resilience, dignity, and truth in communities too often overlooked.
Learn more about Javon here: Instagram | LinkedIn | Portfolio
Vincent Chin Memorial Scholarship and Internship
RECIPIENT: Ashley Dong
Ashley Dong is a sophomore studying journalism and data science at Northwestern University. On campus, she is an editor for The Daily Northwestern, for which she reports on community-focused stories and photographs sports and musical theatre. She is also the co-president of Northwestern’s AAJA chapter. In her free time, Ashley, a Bay Area native, enjoys playing intramural soccer and solving jigsaw puzzles.
Al Young Sports Journalism Scholarship
RECIPIENT: Ira Gorawara
Ira Gorawara is a senior at University of California, Los Angeles and intern on the colleges desk at The Athletic, The New York Times’ national sports publication. In her junior year, she was the Sports editor at the Daily Bruin and completed the school year working at the Los Angeles Times. Gorawara has experience in newsrooms all over the globe — including the South China Morning Post, NDTV and a number of cricket publications worldwide.
Michael Kim Journalism Fellowship
RECIPIENT: Gareth Kwok
Gareth Kwok is a play-by-play broadcaster with experience calling NBA G League basketball, Minor League Baseball, and NCAA Division I athletics. A San Francisco Bay Area native, he is currently in his third season as the TV play-by-play broadcaster for the Rip City Remix, the NBA G League affiliate of the Portland Trail Blazers. In December 2025, Gareth made his NBA play-by-play broadcast debut on radio as a fill-in for the Trail Blazers Audio Network.
His broadcasting career in Minor League Baseball has included stops with the Chesapeake Baysox (Double-A, Baltimore Orioles), New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Double-A, Toronto Blue Jays), and Frederick Keys (High-A, Baltimore Orioles). Gareth has also broadcasted for the Arizona State Sun Devil Radio Network on Arizona Sports 98.7 FM, the NBA G League Winter Showcase on NBA TV, and the Arizona Fall League on MLB.com. He is a 2022 graduate of the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University.
Learn more about Gareth here: X | Instagram | LinkedIn | Website
Thank you to the 2026 Judges for Spring Opportunities:
AAJA gives thanks to the following members for their time and contributions to support the administering of this season’s scholarship, internships, and grants: Niala Boodhoo, Howard Chen, Shirsho Dasgupta, Eun Yang, and Helen Zia.
Thank you to our sponsors and donors
AAJA appreciates the scholarship donors for their continuous legacy in inspiring a new generation of journalists. Thank you to our generous donors Fran and Mike Arrieta-Walden, Therese Bottomly, Kara Briggs, Josef Brugger, Catalina Camia, Serena Chen, Allen Tien Jen Cheng, Cynthia Chennault, Ann Curry, Dinah Eng, Beth K. Erickson, Varya Fish, Janice Gin, Holley Gilbert, Joe Grimm, Joan Harvey, Lisa Heyamoto, Daniel Hortsch, Kristine Horita, Bryan and Kathy Hori, Michael Kim, Cathy Kiyomura, Lloyd LaCuesta, Greg Leong, Dianne and Ray Lewis, Judy Chu Lin, Sabrina and Anthony Lozano, Lori Matsukawa, Joann and John Ng, Yoko and Alan Ota, Naomi Price, George Rede, Matthew and Dorothy Russell, Benjamin Seto, Martha Shirk, Ed Vidinghoff, Amy Wang, Steve Woodward, Stephanie Yao Long, Don Yee, Randall Yip, and Al Young, along with Steve Herman, Sam Hyun, and The Omidyar Group.
A special thanks to Kathy Black and Alisha Cowan-Vieria at ABC, Autumn Joyner and Gabby Flores-Sanchez at Bleacher Report, Carolyn Hwang and Suzanna Camacho at ESPN, Steven Thomma at the White House Correspondents Association, Tara Morgan at NBC Universal and the Indigenous Journalists Association for supporting AAJA’s scholarship opportunities.
About AAJA’s Scholarships
AAJA annually offers financial support to journalism students through scholarships and internship grants to help offset the costs of education, internships, living expenses and other professional development opportunities. These scholarships are made possible by supporters such as AAJA members, allies and generous donors. Learn more here.
