By Richard Fruto
Gianelli & Morris

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 27, 2000–The Asian Pacific American Legal Center won Trivia Bowl VI, marking the first time ever that a community organization has won AAJA-LA’s team trivia fundraising competition.

APALC edged past The Orange County Register to grab first place with a top score of 16 points in Sports and Potpourri, the fifth and final 20-point round. The legal center finished with 68 points out of a possible 100 points.

The Register, which held a one-point lead going into the fifth round, slipped to second with 66 points. KABC-7, tied with APALC behind the Register after the fourth round, finished third with 65 points.

Until this year, a media company team has always won Trivia Bowl. City News Service and the Los Angeles Daily News are both two-time champions. The Press-Telegram in Long Beach also won one year.

The event drew a record $10,600 in corporate and individual donations for scholarships and internship and fellowship stipends, but the event’s charitable goal became a minor distraction in the heat of the two-hour competition in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo.

The questions ranged from identifying the last cyclist to win the Tour de France five times to Ralph Nader’s running mate in the 2000 presidential election to the main character and heroine in Patricia Cornwall’s books about a medical examiner in Virginia.

The Media Action Network for Asian Americans, a perennial contender who finished third in Trivia Bowl V, took fourth place this time around. MANAA, which was within two or three points of the leaders after the fourth round, had the second-highest score in the final round but fell a point short of tying KABC-7 for third.

The Los Angeles Times was fifth. City News Service, the defending champion, tied with NBC for sixth place. KNBC-4, a team of Asian Pacific American legislative staffers and FOX-11 finished seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively.

KTLA again brought home the box of ramen, the traditional Trivia Bowl prize for the last-place finisher. KTLA also finished last in Trivia Bowl IV.

Trivia Bowl VI was presented by the Los Angeles Times and NBC-4 at the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Little Tokyo. KABC-7 news anchor David Ono emceed the event.

In addition to Sports and Potpourri, the categories were Current Events, Politics and History; Literature and Entertainment; Science and Geography; and Music, Art and Gourmet Cooking.

PRESENTING SPONSORS ($3,000)

Los Angeles Times

NBC4

GOLD SPONSORS ($1,000)

KABC-7

KTTV FOX 11

Southern California Edison

SILVER SPONSORS ($500)

KTLA

Union Bank

TEAM SPONSORS ($200)

AT&T Digital Media Center/KSCI Channel 18

City News Service

The Orange County Register

Food provided by Empress Pavilion

Gift certificates provided by Blockbuster and McDonald’s.

View photos from AAJA Trivia Bowl 2000.