Fron left: Mai Hoang, Samantha Pak, Natasha Chen, Caroline Li, Sarah Wallace, Venice Buhain, Lori Matsukawa
AAJA Seattle chapter received two awards at the national AAJA convention held in San Francisco in August. Mai Hoang received chapter president of the year and AAJA received the chapter of the year award, beating 20 other chapters nationwide. Hoang is an award-winning reporter at the Yakima Herald-Republic. Despite being a new mom and working from Yakima, Hoang is recognized for her leadership, commitment to journalism, and building a strong Seattle chapter with meaningful activities. She focused on rebuilding the chapter’s financial health throughout 2014. She welcomes ideas from all AAJA members and has taken them on, even when they created more work for her and the chapter board. And she led the Seattle chapter while living in Yakima, a 2.5 hour drive away from Seattle.(end)