NACA Sponsored AAJA Fundraising and Scholarship Dinner

The Asian American Journalists Association Atlanta Chapter (the “AAJA”), held its 14th Annual Fundraising Banquet on Friday, November 14th, 2008, at Spring Hall Global Forum in Doraville, Georgia. Eight representatives attended the event on behalf of NACA. Once again, NACA was AAJA’s sponsor this year. This year’s theme for the banquet was “Honoring Excellence.” During the banquet, AAJA presented scholarship awards to three college students. The recipients were: Wencong Chen of Emory University (Broadcast Winner), Karan Sharma of SCAD Atlanta (Multimedia Winner) and Anna Swindle of Samford University (Print Winner). Mr. Dan Nainan, stand up comedian seen on “Last Comic Standing”, provided entertainment for the event. Drawing from his own immigrant background and touching on current political and social issues, Mr. Nainan’s show was very comical as the hall was filled with laughter from the audience. The keynote speaker for the event was Mr. Yul Kwon who was the winner of the CBS reality show, Survivor: Cook Islands, during the 2006’s controversial, racially segregated season. Mr. Kwon spoke about his experience on the show and encouraged attendees to work together to raise awareness of Asian issues and increase the presence of Asians in the media industry. The guests at the banquet, which included journalists and media professionals from the Atlanta Journal Constitution, CNN, WSBTV, WAGA, Fox5, WXIA, WGCL, CBS 46 and many more, socialized before and after the banquet. The banquet provided a great opportunity to mingle with old friends and make new friends. NACA was very proud to support AAJA in its endeavor to raise awareness of Asian issues, strengthen the voice of Asians in the newsrooms around the city and honoring excellence in the media industry.