Value Add: Issue 9

Connecting Asian Americans (& Friends) in Media & Sports

February 27, 2026 • Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

🌟 Note from AAJA Sports President Michele Steele
Happy new year fam! Welcome to the Greatest (Sports Task Force) Newsletter In The World, we’ll be sending out these little updates on a quarterly cadence in 2026 - that makes each issue a must-read with important upcoming deadlines, big news to share from our partners and sponsors, jobs info and much more. It’s been a packed year already, between the National Championship game, Super Bowl and the Olympics.. and lots to look forward to beyond that. Speaking of the Super Bowl, huge shoutout to TAAF President Norman Chen who invited Sports Task Force members to their Super Bowl event in downtown SF, really happy that board member Nicole Yang was able to represent us on such an important and special night. Without further ado…
Let’s do that newsletter!

🗓️ Upcoming Dates

AAJA Convention website is LIVE

Buy your tickets NOW before the early bird deadline for our biggest event of the year, the AAJA annual convention. AAJA Sports will be hosting 2 marquee events: our annual Korean Barbecue and Summer Jam, plus can't miss panels. Last year’s social media and women's sports panels packed the house.

  • Early bird deadline for tickets: May 6

Last Call for Internships!

Don’t leave these on the table:

CBS Sports: One spot in either production or social video.

ESPN: Production internship via the ESPN Next offers two $5,000 scholarships to help offset the cost of internships, tuition, student loans or journalism training.

🚀 Stay Inspired

Huge Congrats…
👏 Major Moves & Kudos

  • Roxanna Scott is headed to ESPN as Senior VP and Editor in Chief. Huge hire!

  • The California Post launch includes some familiar faces: Congrats to Ryan Kostecka (Sports Editor) and Dylan Hernandez (Dodgers writer).

  • Diamond Leung is trading Philly for the desert—he’s the new Assistant Sports Editor at the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

  • Varun Shankar is making the jump from the Washington Post (Wizards) to the Houston Chronicle as the lead Rockets beat reporter.

🏆 The Trophy Case: APSE & The Ambies

The Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) recently dropped their annual Top 10 awards, and the Task Force was everywhere on that list. Huge shouts to our members getting their flowers:

  • Giana Han, Kyle Goon, Noah Furtado, Cora Hall, Josh Tolentino, Nathan Canilao, Christina Huang, Jadyn Watson-Fisher, and Ben Tsujimoto.

  • In the world of audio, Pablo Torre absolutely cleaned up at the Ambies. Not only was he named Podcaster of the Year, but Pablo Torre Finds Out took home Sports Podcast of the Year. If you haven't listened yet, you're missing out on some of the best storytelling in the game.

🎓 SJI Class of 2026

Big congrats to Vivian Yao and Kai Dizon for making the cut for the Sports Journalism Institute’s Class of 2026! They’re joining a legendary roster of SJI (and STF) alumni like Ohm Youngmisuk, Thuc Nhi Nguyen, and many more.

Vivian is headed to the Baltimore Banner and Kai is off to the Southern California News Group for their internships. We can't wait to see the work you do!

🏅 Olympic Glory in Milan-Cortina

  • Alysa Liu’s Golden Return: After a two-year retirement, 20-year-old Alysa Liu completed the ultimate comeback, winning Gold in women's figure skating. She also picked up a gold in the team event.

  • Chloe Kim’s Silver: In a thrilling halfpipe final, Chloe Kim went for a high-risk triple straight gold but took home the Silver medal after a tough fall on her final run.

  • Eileen Gu Makes History: Representing China, the San Francisco native took home three medals (Gold in halfpipe, Silver in big air and slopestyle), setting the record for the most Olympic medals in freestyle skiing history.

  • Pioneering Moves: Shoutout to 17-year-old Tallulah Proulx, the first Filipina downhill skier to compete in the Olympics, and Nathan Crumpton, who represented American Samoa in the skeleton.

📰 AAJA & Industry News

  • A Loss in the Community: The AAJA family is mourning the loss of Abe Kwok, a longtime leader at the Arizona Republic and a mentor to many in the organization.

  • Teqball to the Asian Games: If you haven’t seen it yet, Teqball (soccer-meets-ping-pong) has officially been added as a medal sport for the 2026 Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya.

  • Audience Insights: A new Nielsen report highlighted that AANHPI audiences are the fastest-growing segment in sports media, with a 146% spike in World Series viewership and massive gains in WNBA interest.

🔥 Career Corner: Internships & Jobs

Who's Hiring?

  • The Athletic: Looking for a Braves writer (ATL), a National Women’s Hoops writer (Remote), plus a Reporter and Managing Editor for their Rapid Investigation team.

  • Boston Globe: Hunting for a Sports Investigative Reporter and a Women’s Sports Reporter.

  • The California Post: They just launched and are looking to double their staff by the time football season kicks off. Keep an eye on them!


    For these jobs, and more, please contact our Chief People Officer Howard Chen ([email protected])

🏆 Reader of the Month

Oden Youngmisuk: AAJA Sports’ Newest Executive Board Member

 🌉 Background: OG Sports Task Force board member Ohm and his wife Chivon welcomed Baby Oden!

👑 Achievement: Being born as well as being the youngest Spartans fan in the country for at least a few minutes! 

🙈 Quirk: Loves yawning, sleeping, eating, supporting Sports Task Force, watching hoops. (WOW JUST LIKE DAD)

If you see Ohm at a game or out and about in the world, be sure to say What up fam and Congrats!!!

🗞️ Journalism Fun Fact: "Back to Square One"

Via the BBC: “Ever wondered if the phrase "back to square one" has anything to do with our industry? Many etymologists believe it was actually born from sports journalism and early radio broadcasting!

In the 1920s, when the BBC first began broadcasting soccer matches, listeners struggled to follow the action without a visual. To help them out, the Radio Times would publish a numbered grid of the pitch in the paper.

One commentator would describe the play, while a second would call out the grid number—"Square 3!" or "Square 5!"—so fans could track the ball's position on their "map." Since the goalie’s area was designated as Square One, whenever a play resulted in a goal kick or a reset, the announcer would literally send the listeners ‘back to square one.’“

The more you know!

Till next time,

AAJA Sports Task Force