By Alana Cho – AAJA-LA Intern

COVID-19 may have cancelled schools, bars and life as we know it, but it did not shut down the annual AAJA-LA’s Trivia Bowl. Despite the COVID-19 online platform, the fun spirited rivalry, trivia, and smack talk did not disappoint. Started in 1994 by Dickson Louie, the AAJA-LA Trivia Bowl grew to be a highly anticipated event raising funds for California Reporting Scholarships, internships, grants, and professional development programs. This year, the festive Trivia Bowl took place on October 16, 2020 at 7:00 pm. Two and a half hours flew by, filled with laughter, lucky raffle winners, and of course, quality trivia.

With Samantha Masunaga as the zoom host, David Ono as the returning emcee, and Lynn Yu and Chris O’Brien as the Quiz Masters, the virtual trivia contest was flawlessly executed over Zoom.

This year’s pioneer online format had its advantages. Participants were not charged entrance fees. Additionally, the convenience factor ironically brought more people together despite COVID-19’s social distancing. The elimination of commuting to the event allowed journalists, actors, friends, and lawyers from all over the world to participate from the comfort of their living rooms. There were 337 attendees comprising 40 teams, simultaneously joining from across time zones, participating from Singapore to Seattle, all vying for the number one spot and enjoying some playful banter with their opponents and, of course, David Ono.

A little overview of the refashioned format of the competition – unlike past years in which the game consisted of a fast-paced 20 question round, this year there were fewer questions and teams had the opportunity to deliberate amongst themselves in breakout rooms during each round before submitting their answers. In between each of the four rounds, the answers to the previous round were announced along with the selected winners of the raffle. Round 1 consisted of six questions on Current Events and Sports. Round 2 posed eight questions relating to Pop Culture. Round 3 also had eight questions, all of which covered Food and Science. Finally, Round 4 encompassed six questions about The Internet in 2020 followed by two tiebreakers for the top teams.

A smashing success, this year’s Trivia Bowl’s virtual format not only allowed an exciting competition, but it also let friends from all around the globe reunite with their old pals who they had not seen in a long time. This year, the Spirit Award was presented for the first time to October Surprise, a team with unique costumes, an artfully designed virtual background, and AAJA members from across the country.

In lieu of the Rice and Grasshopper cups often awarded in past years, the College Champions and Overall Champions were gifted snack boxes of Asian treats. Congratulations to the Cal State Long Beach 49ers, the College Team Champions for their third win, and to the Successful Squad, the overall winner of AAJA LA 2020 Virtual Trivia Bowl!