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NEW YORK CITY, Jan. 24, 2005 -- SAJA, the South Asian Journalists Association, announced its slate of officers for 2005 today. The group serves more than 1,000 journalists and others interested in South Asia and South Asians across the U.S. and Canada. Deepti Hajela, an Associated Press newswoman, was elected president, after having served as vice president for two years. Vikas Bajaj, a business and government writer at the Dallas Morning News, was named vice president and convention chair. Monika Mathur, a news researcher at Associated Press, was named secretary. John Laxmi, a New Jersey-based freelance writer, continues as treasurer and Sreenath Sreenivasan, a Columbia University journalism professor and WABC-TV technology reporter, continues as the group's administrator. A full slate of Board members for the year has also been named (list below). "It is an honor to serve as SAJA's president in the coming year," said Hajela. "SAJA will continue to shape journalism in two ways: by helping newsrooms better understand South Asia as well as the South Asian communities in North America; and in helping the 1,000-plus South Asian journalists here better navigate the industry." "I am
thrilled to take on this position at an exciting time in SAJA's
history," Bajaj said. "We are undertaking ambitious and unique projects
and I am looking forward to working on these new initiatives and our
annual convention." During Kalita 's two years as president, SAJA rose to new levels: launching a mentoring program, increasing
the number of nationwide chapters, reaching out to news organizations during times of crisis and calm to
help facilitate coverage of South Asia and its diaspora, and expanding SAJA's annual convention to
include a job fair. Deepti Hajela, who is a reporter for the AP's New York City metro bureau, was raised in New Jersey. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with bachelor's and master's degrees, and has been working for the AP since 1996. She has been on the SAJA Board since its inception and served as convention chair for several years, taking it from a one-day conference to an international four-day event that has featured such headliners as Peter Jennings of ABC News; author Salman Rusdhie; Fareed Zakaria of Newsweek; Rena Golden of CNN International; Peter Bhatia of The Oregonian; Jai Singh of CNet News.com; Paul Steiger of The Wall Street Journal and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo. Led by Vikas Bajaj, SAJA and its partner, SAJA Group, Inc., are preparing for the annual convention, which will take place June 16-19, 2005, at Columbia University in New York. More than 1,000 journalists and guests from around the U.S., Canada, South Asia and Europe are expected to gather for a series of workshops, panels and networking events -- highlighted by a gala dinner and the SAJA Journalism Awards (including the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Reporting on South Asia). Details of the convention can be found on the SAJA Web site: http://www.saja.org/convention2005.html For this year's SAJA Journalism Awards, a special category honoring coverage by U.S. and Canadian media outlets of the tsunami disaster has been added. Unlike other categories, which are for calendar year 2004, this category (honoring work in print, TV, photography, new media and opinion writing) will be extended till Jan. 31, 2005 and will include all the countries affected by the tsunami, not just South Asia itself. See the awards section of SAJA.org - http://www.saja.org/awards.html - for more information. 2004 was a landmark year for SAJA as it grew in influence and scope. The dramatic increase in the South Asian population in the United States and growing importance of U.S.-South Asian relations has seen a huge growth in the coverage of the community and the region. As a result, SAJA serves as a resource for journalists, community organizations and members of the public trying to understand various complex issues. The tsunami disaster showed what SAJA can do for the community at a time of international tragedy: from helping journalists find sources on the ground through the SAJA Freelance Forum - http://www.saja.org/freelance.html to finding U.S. and Canadian experts - http://www.saja.org/tsunami.html - to our own members who went to cover the crisis - http://www.saja.org/tsunamijournos.html. Hajela, Bajaj and other members of the board will focus on improving the quality and reach of our programs. SAJA's e-mail lists - http://www.saja.org/lists - and its newsy, resource-filled Web site - http://www.saja.org - offer the public a chance to learn about South Asia and South Asian America. SAJA
Board 2005 Officers
General Board Members
Resources:
ABOUT
SAJA The organization is best known for its resource-filled Web site, SAJA.org, which includes the SAJA Stylebook for Covering South Asia and the South Asian Diaspora -- http://www.saja.org/stylebook -- ("Learn to tell your Hindi from Hindu, and much, much more"), as well as the annual SAJA Journalism Awards, which recognize outstanding coverage of South Asia and excellence in reporting by South Asian journalists and students in the U.S. and Canada (including the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding Coverage of South Asia). The deadline for 2005 is Monday, March 28, 2005. More information on the awards: http://www.saja.org/awards Each year, more than 1,000 journalists and others attend the SAJA Convention in New York. The 2005 convention will take place June 16-19 (Fri-Sun), 2003, at Columbia University. Details of the convention: http://www.saja.org/convention2005.html Since 2004, SAJA supports and collaborates closely with SAJA Group, Inc., a 501 (c)(3) organization, in providing a wide range of educational, information and training services to journalists and other members of the public interested in South Asia and South Asians. The New York chapter hosts monthly meetings in Manhattan with distinguished guest speakers, as well as various career-oriented panels. Other chapters are in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Membership forms, career and reporting tips, profiles of 200+ members, and additional information are available at http://ww.saja.org. For questions about SAJA not addressed on the Web -- at http://ww.saja.org -- contact saja@columbia.edu or 212-854-5979 ABOUT SAJA GROUP, INC Working with the support of and in close collaboration with the South Asian Journalists Association, SAJA Group, Inc. conducts a variety of programs and activities open to the public, including an annual journalism convention and job fair, journalism awards, student scholarship programs, journalism mentorship program, and other activities of interest to journalists and individuals interested in South Asia and South Asians. SAJA Group, Inc. is a not-for-profit corporation under Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations to SAJA Group, Inc., net of any consideration received, are deductible as charitable contributions in accordance with and to the extent permitted by the Internal Revenue Code. Donors must consult their financial or tax advisor concerning tax-deductibility of contributions and payments. SAJA Group, Inc.’s EIN Number is 55-0844632; NY State Charities Bureau Registration Number: 20-70-28.
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