Shortly after Yucheng Tang moved to Chico a year ago to report for ChicoSol, he connected the traditional Chinese Tomb Sweeping Day with Mexico’s Day of the Dead tradition. On. Nov. 7, his story of cultural rediscovery that showcased those traditions side-by-side won a first place at American Community Media’s (ACoM’s) annual award ceremony.
In his acceptance speech, Tang noted he was able to bring two different cultures together through “good storytelling … sincerity and curiosity.” He also expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to introduce people in “a small town like Chico” to Asian culture and heritage.
Anthony Advincula, one of the judges for the ACoM contest, told ChicoSol that selecting the winners was challenging because of a plethora of excellent entries.
Tang in fact shared the first-place award for Art/Culture, Entertainment & Sports, one of eight contest categories, with Kyeongjun Kim of Korea Daily.
In the awards brochure, ACoM Founder Sandy Close lauded “storytelling from the inside out” by journalists who are a part of the ethnic communities they report on.
“Our goal today is to showcase the enduring value of ‘high touch’ media – media born out of the very communities many of you serve, informing, engaging, connecting,” she wrote. “In this emerging era of Artificial Intelligence, we are here to celebrate the journalists, the editors and publishers, the marketing directors and admin folk, all the people who make this unique form of journalism possible.”
News websites as well as traditional print and broadcast media participating in the Ethnic Media Expo and Awards ceremony in Oakland represented the diversity of California’s ethnic population that includes Latino, Asian, Pacific Islander, Afghan and Jewish communities. ACoM’s national directory identifies more than 3,000 ethnic media outlets in all 50 states.
Tang, a California Local News fellow, is more than half way through a two-year assignment reporting for ChicoSol.
Last year, ChicoSol contributor Natalie Hanson won the top award in the category, “The Rise in Hate Crimes and Efforts to Find Healing.” Hanson’s award honored her work on a story about how marginalized communities heal from hate incidents and threats.
Hanson’s article centered on the rebuilding of Chico’s oldest Black church, the Bethel African Methodist Episcopalian Church.
Lindajoy Fenley is a senior editor at ChicoSol.
Kudos to both Natalie and Yucheng… and to the editor, Leslie Layton, as well. It takes a team.
The beauty of the world lies in its diversity and in the rich past lives of those around us — something we have to take time to understand and appreciate.
Well deserved! Yucheng’s been doing a great job.