By Doris N. Truong
AAJA National Secretary

"A mushroom cloud!" people around the room shouted. "Come on -- more scientific," emcee Sandra Endo prompted.

A hush fell over the crowd. The answer the 2009 AAJA-D.C. Trivia Bowl judges were after? Pyrocumulus. And what was the question? "The September Station Fire in Southern California produced giant towering clouds, frighteningly reminiscent of an atomic bomb explosion, which could be seen throughout the Southland. What is the name for this type of cloud?"

Six teams, representing a variety of media companies as well as people who can recall minutiae in amazing detail, converged Oct. 23 at the Pew Charitable Trusts in downtown Washington for AAJA-D.C.'s third fun(d)raiser. At stake: the Lamp of Knowledge, and a year of bragging rights.

Questions in three rounds came from such categories as current events, geography, D.C. living and entertainment. Some questions were especially challenging within the time constraints, in particular one seeking the last names of the nine Supreme Court justices. Even Trivia Bowl judges Peggy Hu and Liz Kay had to resort to checking auxiliary resources because the answer sheet omitted a key member: Samuel Alito Jr. But one team had the correct response: Team McClatchy.

The McClatchy crew was confident throughout the evening's questions read by Endo, of CNN Newsource in Washington. In Round 1, the Style Invitational Losers (named after a weekly contest published by The Washington Post) had the lead, but McClatchy pulled out the overall win by one point: 39 to 38.

Team McClatchy

Also providing stiff competition at the sold-out Trivia Bowl were Team For the Win, whose members came as individual players to be assigned to an ad hoc team; Levi Johnston and the Supremes, which had players from the news media as well as the Hill and beyond; Team Gannett, which had a strong showing despite not fielding a full team of 10; and Team FAQ, Filipinos Answering Questions.

Adding to the evening's interest were raffle prizes that included a chance for a makeover at D.C.'s Erwin Gomez Salon and Spa, and a personal tour of D.C.'s frozen-yogurt scene courtesy of Yul Kwon, winner of "Survivor: Cook Islands" and now a deputy chief at the Federal Communications Commission. The top prize -- a three-day stay at the Luxor in Las Vegas -- was claimed by Susan Yoo, a member of Team McClatchy and a former chapter secretary for AAJA-D.C.

Sponsors for the 2009 AAJA-D.C. Trivia Bowl were McClatchy, Vietnamese American TV and Joie Chen, who emceed local Trivia Bowls in 2006 and 2007. In-kind donations were provided by the Baltimore Sun and The Post.

AAJA-D.C. extends special thanks to Ylan Mui, Rahul Bali, Hanah Cho, Sherri Ly, Melodie Martin, Brigette Namata and Kathy Park for their work in making the Trivia Bowl a success. With payments received and expenses paid, the chapter netted more than $3,000 to help with programming, student scholarships and professional development stipends.