Man sitting on porch with cap and white and gray dogThe Los Angeles chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association and the Los Angeles Times are accepting applications for the Gregory Yuen Yee Scholarship in honor of an outstanding young journalist who helped shape news coverage through his energy, dedication and precision, especially in chasing breaking news as a member of The Times’ Fast Break desk.

Yee, a sensitive and disciplined writer with exceptional curiosity and empathy, was passionate about local news. In that vein, we welcome applicants who are working to strengthen their storytelling and make deeper connections with their local communities.

Successful applicants will receive funding for skills training and professional development. The scholarship can also be applied to the cost of attending journalism conventions, or to assisting journalists in pursuing local reporting or — sparked by Yee’s enduring love of photography — visual projects.

Man with black glasses, blue shirt and hair pulled back.AAJA-LA and The Times share a firm commitment to creating space and opportunities for young, diverse talent to thrive in our industry. We encourage early-career journalists with five years of experience or less, working in Southern California or with roots in Southern California, to apply for this scholarship. We hope to find and support future “Greg Yees” and honor his legacy through this special program.

The application is available at tinyurl.com/GregYee2023 and the deadline is June 2, 2023.

To contribute, click the yellow “donate” button below and please include “Greg Yee” in the “notes” fields. If you have any questions, or would like details for donating by check, contact gregyeescholarship@gmail.com. 


2023 Gregory Yuen Yee Scholarship Winners

Shreya Agrawal, $1,200 to attend the Society of Environmental Journalists Conference in Philadelphia

Shreya is an environmental journalist and recent USC graduate with degrees in earth sciences, creative writing and journalism. She is currently working as a health care news intern for CalMatters and a newsroom fellow at The Xylom. Previously, she worked at Malheur Enterprise as a rural climate reporting fellow for the USC Annenberg Center for Climate Journalism and Communication. She also founded and worked as the inaugural editor for USC Annenberg Media Earth, the first environmental reporting desk at USC. Her work has also appeared in Los Angeles Times and Planet Forward.

Allison Armijo, $750 for a narrative journalism class

Armijo is a rising senior at Emerson College, where they study creative writing. During their time at Emerson, they have written for MIT News, Emerson Today, the Los Angeles Times, and their hometown paper, the El Segundo Herald. Currently, Allison is the Web Editor for The Gay & Lesbian Review, a bimonthy magazine of LGBTQ politics, culture, and history based out of Boston. More broadly, they are interested in exploring the intersection of queer sex and love through the bodies that facilitate those relationships.

Aviraj Gokool, $1,100 for travel to Japan and membership in the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan

Avi Gokool is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles and Tokyo. With a keen interest in Japanese culture, history and social issues, he is aspiring to be a Japan-based foreign correspondent. His work can be found at AsAmNews. He majored in literary journalism at UC Irvine.

Tianrui Huang, $1200 to attend the AAJA convention in Austin

Tianrui Huang is a philosophy-economics double major at UC San Diego. As a senior staff member for the campus newspaper UCSD Guardian, she has also worked at LGBT metropolitan news Washington Blade, the investigative paper Voice of San Diego and HK-based outlet RADII. Born and raised in Hunan, China, Tianrui aspires to further broaden her coverage horizons, delving into areas such as business policy and Asian American communities.

Michelle Peng, $1,200 to attend the AAJA convention in Austin

Michelle Peng is an LA-based reporter at Charter, a startup newsroom focused on issues related to the modern workplace. She contributes to coverage of topics as diverse as labor and unions, childcare and working parents, and remote and hybrid work, published in Charter’s newsletters and at TIME.com/Charter. A latecomer to the journalism industry, Michelle graduated from Yale College in 2019 and spent the first couple of years of her career embedded in the world of childcare policy and grassroots organizing. Outside of work, you can find her taking advantage of all that Southern California has to offer, whether that’s ski trips in the winter, beach days in the summer, live shows at venues across LA, or trying new restaurants in the best food city in the world. 

Asian American Journalists Association. Los Angeles Chapter. Established 1981.