Civic Engagement and Leadership Awards

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD: Simon Li | Simon Li is retired from his 36-year career as a newspaper editor, including 23 years at the Los Angeles Times, where he was an assistant business editor, foreign editor and assistant managing editor. Before that, he was an editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer. He is a 1970 graduate of the Columbia Journalism School, and was awarded the Columbia University Alumni Medal in 2010 and the Columbia Journalism School’s Alumni Award in 2012. He is a trustee of the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif., and a member of the board of Pasadena’s Huntington Hospital. He also serves on the advisory board of Lincoln College, Oxford University, where he earned a B.A. He is a former vice chairman of the board of the International Press Institute (IPI), which advocates for media freedom and independence. He is also a long-time member of the Asian American Journalists Association, which has given him a special recognition award as well as one for leadership in diversity.

PRESIDENT'S AWARD: Marcus Yam, Los Angeles Times Foreign Correspondent/Staff Photographer | Marcus Yam is a roving Los Angeles Times foreign correspondent and staff photographer. Born and raised in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, he left a career in aerospace engineering to become a photographer. His goal: to take viewers to the frontlines of conflict, struggle and intimacy. His approach is deeply rooted in curiosity and persistence. In 2022, Yam won the Pulitzer Prize for breaking news photography for images documenting the U.S. departure from Afghanistan that capture the human cost of the historic change in the country. In 2019, Yam was awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Journalism Award for his unflinching body of work showing the everyday plight of Gazans during deadly clashes in the Gaza Strip. He was also part of two Pulitzer Prize-winning breaking news teams that covered the San Bernardino, Calif., terrorist attacks in 2015 for the Los Angeles Times and the deadly landslide in Oso, Wash. in 2014, for the Seattle Times. His previous work has also earned an Emmy Award for News and Documentary, World Press Photo Award, DART Award for Trauma Coverage, Scripps Howard Visual Journalism Award, Picture of the Year International’s Newspaper Photographer of the Year Award, Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award, National Headliner Award and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award. When he’s not working, Yam likes minimizing and organizing his life for efficiency for emergencies.

CHANGEMAKER OF THE YEAR: Bo Hee Kim, Strategy and Operations Deputy, Audience Mission at The New York Times | Bo is an unsung hero fighting behind the scenes to make the industry more equitable, proof that one person *can* make a difference. As director of newsroom strategy for The New York Times in 2020-2021, she played an integral role in the company's D.E.I. strategy, both internally and public-facing. Bo is currently the Strategy and Operations Deputy of the Audience Mission, the first department at The New York Times to bring together editorial and product teams. In her previous role as Director of Newsroom Strategy, she received the Publisher's Award for Leadership for helping build a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive newsroom culture. She has previously worked in journalism and product at Vox Media, Livefyre, Storify and Agence France-Presse.

EMERGING JOURNALIST OF THE YEAR: Salgu Wissmath, Documentary Photographer, Photography Fellow at the San Francisco Chronicle | Their nominator says Salgu is a light and beacon for LGBTQ+ communities. Salgu's unique perspective and empathy for their photography subjects has led to compelling storytelling, with an eye on truth and grace. | BIO: Salgu Wissmath is a nonbinary Korean American photographer from Sacramento, California. They will be joining the San Francisco Chronicle as a Heast Fellow in August 2022. Their personal work explores the intersections of mental health, queer identity, and faith from a conceptual documentary approach. Their work has been published in the NYT, SF Chronicle, NPR, among others.

COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD TO A LOCAL NEWSROOM: The Korea Daily

COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD TO A LOCAL NEWSROOM: The Korea Times

COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD TO A LOCAL NEWSROOM: Atlanta K

SUZANNE ANH CIVIC ENGAGEMENT & SOCIAL JUSTICE AWARD: Sarah Kim | Sarah Kim is a freelance disability journalist and DEI media consultant who lives with cerebral palsy. Her journalistic work focuses on the intersectionality of race, socioeconomic status, culture/entertainment, and politics on people with disabilities, particularly women. Her work has been featured in Al Jazeera Business Insider, TIME, HealthyWomen, Bitch Media, Betches, Dropps, BOLD Culture Hub, Supermajority News, Glamour, Columbia Journalism Review, Greatist, Barnard Magazine, Martha Stewart Weddings, Huffington Post, Teen Vogue, The Mighty, The Daily Beast, and others. Sarah is also a graduate of Barnard College and Columbia Journalism School.

AAPI COMMUNITY IMPACT AWARD: Chenue Her, Anchor, WOI-TV | Chenue Her is an anchor at WOI-TV in Des Moines, IA. He is the first Hmong male anchor in the United States, and has been a longtime advocate for Asian Americans in journalism. Chenue first joined AAJA in college, finding mentors early in his career in his hometown Minneapolis chapter.

LEADERSHIP IN DIVERSITY & SOLIDARITY: The 19th News | This award honors an individual or corporation that has made strides in promoting and demonstrating diversity in the news media industry. The leadership in diversity award winner is selected by the AAJA National Board.

Civic Engagement and Leadership Awards 2022

Member Awards