The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) elected Paul Cheung as its 2013-14
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) elected Paul Cheung as its 2013-14 National President, announced Friday at its annual Gala Awards Banquet, during the UNITY Journalists convention in Las Vegas.
On Jan. 1, Cheung, global interactive editor at the Associated Press in New York, will begin his two-year term as AAJA National President.
“I want to thank our members for seeing the possibilities of what we can do together for our future in journalism,” Cheung said. “I am profoundly grateful for the chance to serve AAJA as president.”
Cheung won with 273 votes. Janet H. Cho, a business reporter for the Plain Dealer in Cleveland, received 111 votes. A total of 388 votes were cast, out of the more than 1,000 ballots from voting-eligible AAJA members.
“Congratulations to Paul and thank you to all the AAJA members who took the time to listen to our platforms and cast their ballots,” said Cho, a former AAJA Vice President for Print. “I enjoyed meeting so many of you at UNITY12, and look forward to continuing to represent you on the UNITY Journalists board.”
Cheung previously worked at the Miami Herald as its deputy multimedia presentation editor, and before that, he was a senior graphics editor at the Wall Street Journal.
His service to AAJA includes volunteering as a Governing Board member and being co-director of the OurChinatown hyperlocal news site, which was part of AAJA’s Executive Leadership Program Media Demonstration Project. Cheung has also been a trainer for AAJA’s multicultural JCamp for high school students. He has overseen programming for several AAJA national conventions and was co-chair of programming for UNITY12, which drew together AAJA, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, the Native American Journalists Association and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association from Aug. 1 to 4 in Las Vegas.
Elected in uncontested races were Niala K. Boodhoo, a business reporter at Chicago Public Media, as AAJA Vice President for Broadcast and Gautham V. Nagesh, editor of the Technology Executive Briefing at CQ Roll Call Group, as AAJA Treasurer.
Rounding out Cheung’s executive team are AAJA Vice President for Print Thomas Lee, a business reporter at the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and AAJA Secretary Theodore Kim, a mobile editor at The Washington Post.
Outgoing officers are AAJA President Doris Truong, a multiplatform editor at The Washington Post; Vice President for Broadcast George Kiriyama, a news reporter for NBC Bay Area; and Treasurer Rene Astudillo, executive director of the Lupus Foundation of Northern California. Their terms end Dec. 31.
Cheung, Boodhoo and Nagesh will take office Jan. 1.