By Nina Huang
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

1.Political achievements

• Kamala Harris became the first Asian and Black woman to be named the Democratic presidential nominee.
• Andy Kim became the first Korean American elected to the Senate and the first Asian American senator on the East Coast.
• Adena Ishii made history as Berkeley’s first Asian American mayor.
• Derek Tran became the first Vietnamese American to represent California’s 45th congressional district, home to the nation’s largest Vietnamese community.
• Hoang Nguyen made history as the first Vietnamese American and the first refugee to be elected to the Utah State Legislature.
• Sal Mungia will be the newest Washington Supreme Court Justice.

2. Nobel Prize winners

Demis Hassabis, John M. Jumper, and David Baker were jointly awarded this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry for protein structure prediction. Born to a Greek Cypriot father and a Singaporean mother, Hassabis is the CEO and co-founder of DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society, and has won many prestigious awards for his research work, including the Breakthrough Prize, the Canada Gairdner International Award, and the Lasker Award.

South Korean author Han Kang won this year’s Nobel Prize for Literature “for her intense poetic prose that confronts historical traumas and exposes the fragility of human life.” In her oeuvre, Han Kang confronts historical traumas and invisible sets of rules and, in each of her works, exposes the fragility of human life. Han is the first South Korean and the first Asian woman to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

South Korean author Han Kang poses for the media during a news conference in Seoul, South Korea, on May 24, 2016. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize went to Nihon Hidankyo “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”

Lisa Su

3. CEO of the Year

Time Magazine named chair and chief executive officer at semiconductor company AMD, Lisa Su, CEO of the Year. Su was born in Taiwan and moved to the United States as a child. Su has been in the semiconductor company for 30 years, after earning three degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also first cousins once removed with Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia. Huang’s mother is Su’s grandfather’s sister.

4. Pioneers in space

On June 5, Sunita Williams became the first woman to fly on a flight test of an orbital spacecraft when the Starliner launched to orbit with Williams as the spacecraft’s pilot. In addition to being an astronaut, she is a retired U.S. Navy officer, and former record holder for most spacewalks by a woman (seven) and most spacewalk time for a woman (50 hours, 40 minutes). Williams’ father was an Indian American neuroanatomist from Mehsana district, Gujarat, India and her mother was a Slovene-American.

5. Literary achievements

Ilyon Woo received the 2024 Pulitzer Prize in Biography for Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom. Other recognition for the book include being named to The New York Times’ 10 Best Books of 2023, named a best book of 2023 by The New Yorker, Time, NPR, Smithsonian Magazine, and Oprah Daily. Woo is also the author of The Great Divorce: A Nineteenth-Century Mother’s Extraordinary Fight Against Her Husband. She holds a BA in the Humanities from Yale College and a PhD in English from Columbia University.

Brandon Som was awarded the Pulitzer for Poetry for Tripas: Poems—a collection that engages with the complexities of Som’s dual Mexican and Chinese heritage, highlighting the dignity of his family’s working lives, creating community rather than conflict.

Taiwan Travelogue, written by Yang Shuang Zi and translated by Lin King, won the National Book Award for Translated Literature. Taiwan Travelogue unburies lost colonial histories and deftly reveals how power dynamics inflect our most intimate relationships.

6. Culinary achievements

Several Asians received recognition from the James Beard Foundation this year. 

• • Outstanding Restaurant: Thai restaurant Langbaan in Portland, OR
  • Emerging Chef: Masako Morishita of Perry’s in Washington, D.C.
  • Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker: Atsuko Fujimoto of Norimoto Bakery in Portland, ME
  • Best Chef: California: Lord Maynard Llera of Kuya Lord in Los Angeles, CA
  • Best Chef: Great Lakes (IL, IN, MI, OH): Hajime Sato of Sozai in Clawson, MI
  • Best Chef: Midwest (IA, KS, MN, MO, NE, ND, SD, WI): Christina Nguyen of Hai Hai in Minneapolis, MN
  • Best Chef: South (AL, AR, FL, LA, MS, PR): Valerie Chang of Maty’s in Miami, FL

7. Checkmate!

On Dec. 12, Grandmaster (GM) Gukesh Dommaraju of Chennai, India, 18, became the youngest ever chess world champion. He defeated GM Ding Liren in the FIDE World Championship. At 18 years and six months, he broke the previous record holder, GM Garry Kasparov, who won at 22 years and seven months, in 1985.

Gukesh Dommaraju poses with trophy during a procession held to honor him on becoming the World youngest chess champion in Chennai, India, Tuesday, Dec. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A.)

8. Sensational Shogun

Created by Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks, American historical drama series, Shogun, wins record-breaking 14 Emmys at Creative Arts ceremony and earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Television Series – Drama (along with Squid Game), Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series – Drama, and Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Television Series – Drama. Anna Sawai became the first actor of Asian descent to win for Lead Drama Actress.

This image released by FX shows Eita Okuno as Saeki Nobutatsu, from left, Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko, Hiromoto Ida as Kiyama Ukon Sadanaga in a scene from “Shogun.” (Katie Yu/FX via AP)

9. Making history on The Voice

Sofronio Vasquez made history earlier this month when he became the first Filipino and Asian winner of NBC’s The Voice. Michael Buble was his coach. This was the 26th season of The Voice and was Buble’s first season as a coach. Vasquez won $100,000 and a recording contract with Universal Music Group.

10. First Asian Bachelorette

Jenn Tran makes history as the first Asian American in the lead role in the history of the Bachelor franchise. Tran first appeared on season 28 of The Bachelor, and starred in season 21 of The Bachelorette. While she did become engaged to Devin Strader on the show, he broke off the engagement several months later.

Nina can be reached at newstips@nwasianweekly.com.

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