Event Devoted to Henry Fuhrmann
By Nathalie Leung – AAJA-LA Intern
This year’s Trivia Bowl was devoted to Henry Fuhrmann, a longtime and beloved AAJA leader, mentor and friend to many who passed away a few weeks prior on Sept. 14, 2022.
Fuhrmann was an editor and mentor to generations of journalists at the Los Angeles Times. His work transformed the representation of immigrants and people from minority communities in media.
In addition to his work, one of the heroic qualities Fuhrmann brought to the journalist community was his care for the next generation. He created a sense of community through the support and encouragement he offered to young journalists around him.
Fuhrmann was also a longtime and enthusiastic organizer of Trivia Bowl and very knowledgeable about trivia in general. AAJA-LA leader Teresa Watanabe said Capital & Main Editor-in-Chief Peter Hong told her recently that when he was on a D.C. Trivia Bowl team at an AAJA convention many years ago, L.A. team rival Fuhrmann kept aceing the questions — much to his chagrin.
After a moment of silence, Trivia Bowl host and ABC7 anchor David Ono announced a new copy-editing internship sponsored by AAJA-LA and the Los Angeles Times in honor of Fuhrmann and a special round.
Started in 1994 by Dickson Louie, the AAJA-LA Trivia Bowl grew to be a highly anticipated event raising funds for AAJA-LA’s internships, grants, and professional development programs.
This year, the Trivia Bowl took place on Oct. 14, 2022 at 7 p.m. Two and a half hours flew by, filled with laughter, lucky raffle winners, and of course, quality trivia.
While it planned to return in-person this year, AAJA-Trivia Bowl continued online because of ongoing COVID-10 restrictions.
This year’s virtual trivia contest featured David Ono as the Zoom host and returning emcee, and Lynn Yu and Chris O’Brien as the Quiz Masters. There were around 300 attendees comprising 25 teams, with participants tuning in from various time zones and locations, ranging from local teams here in California to Seattle, all striving to take the lead in this year’s trivia bowl.
This year’s virtual event had fewer questions in each category than in-person competitions and teams had the opportunity to deliberate among themselves in breakout rooms during each round before submitting their answers. An additional “bonus round” was added to honor Fuhrmann. After complaints last year, questions that could be more L.A.-focused were removed since teams from around the country competed.
In between each of the four main rounds, the answers to the previous round were announced along with the selected winners of the raffle and an update on the scoreboard. Round 1 posed questions on current events and pop culture. Round 2 covered literature, art, and food. round 3 related to sports, business, and tech.
Finally, Round 4’s theme was history, geography, and miscellaneous which was followed by the “bonus round”. Teams were given eight minutes to answer ten questions each round and the points scored in the Bonus Round were not included for the scoring of the main competition.
In lieu of the Rice and Grasshopper cups often awarded in past years, the college champions and overall champions will be sent a credit to purchase snack boxes of Asian treats. Congratulations to the Cal State Long Beach Sharks, the college team champions for their fourth win, and to the FYLPRO/Tayo team, the overall winner of AAJA-LA’s 2022 Virtual Trivia Bowl.
Title Sponsor ($5,000)
Golden Sponsors ($2,000)
Silver Sponsors ($1,000)
Bronze Sponsors (Nonprofits $500)
Thank you to everyone who came out! It’s your participation that allows AAJA to continue to support the current generation and the next generation of journalists. We appreciate you all so much! To stay up to date on future events, visit our website and our Instagram.