AAJA Annual Auction Caters To High-End Bidders

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

By ANDI MURPHY
The UNITY News

Shopping and dinner dates might seem like a dream for some. This year, the Asian American Journalists Association will help make those dreams come true.

AAJA’s silent auction is slated for Friday at 5:30 to 10 p.m. in the Hyatt Regency’s Columbus Hall with a separate gala scheduled for 7 to 9:30 p.m.

Organizers say this year’s auction features high-end items that organizers hope will appeal to bidders.

“I’m really hoping people bring their credit cards and checkbooks,” said Cynthia Wang, silent auction head.

Some of the most-wanted items on the auction list were contributed by the Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia AAJA chapters. Lunch dates with media executives, such as Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, are up for bid as well as an afternoon of shopping with Susan Goldberg, editor of The Plain Dealer of Cleveland, officials said.

More than 60 photos taken by AAJA members will be available. Twenty-five of the best photos will be on sale for $500 each at the UNITY hall at McCormick Place West, said Caroline Paras, of AAJA’s Los Angeles chapter.

Prints by Dith Pran, The New York Times photographer who died in April, are up for grabs, including one photo at McCormick Place and two in the auction. Vacation packages to the Bahamas and other destinations are also on the auction block. One bidder will even win a pair of tickets to watch TV’s “Dancing With the Stars.”

Basketballs and baseballs signed by sports teams make up many of the items, organizers said.

“I don’t think the economy has affected anything,” Wang said.

Proceeds benefit scholarships, as well as the Power of One endowment. Bidders and shoppers can make donations at the auction.

“It’ll be a shopping extravaganza,” Wang said.

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