Anh Do honored with 2026 Henry Fuhrmann Mentorship Award

October 7, 2026

Los Angeles, Calif. — The Asian American Journalists Association, Los Angeles chapter, and ACES: The Society for Editing have named the winner of the fourth annual Henry Fuhrmann Mentor Award, which comes with a certificate and a $1,000 prize.

Anh Do, the Los Angeles Times’ deputy editor for culture and talent, helps manage the internship, fellowship, recruitment and training programs. Before this job, she worked as a community engagement editor and as a Metro reporter covering Asian American issues and general assignments. Do has reported for The Seattle Times, the Orange County Register and Nguoi Viet Daily News, the largest Vietnamese publication in the United States. Born in Saigon, Vietnam, she is a graduate of the University of Southern California with degrees in journalism and English.

“I really admired Anh’s thoughtful and nuanced reporting on Asian American communities at the LA Times when I was an intern and a fellow. She wrote with care and attention to detail about the unique immigration experiences of different ethnic communities, especially refugees fleeing their countries of origin,” multimedia journalist Jireh Deng, cofounder of AAJA LGBTQIA+, wrote. “I was a little sad when I saw her transition into talent recruitment at the LA Times because I know just how few Asian American reporters there are covering our communities on a national level. But Anh has been equally, if not more, important in identifying the next generation of diverse talent in journalism. She offers steady, straightforward, and encouraging advice and is very even-keeled, even when the industry is very turbulent.”

Another mentee, Jill Cowan, a reporter at The New York Times, said she met Do almost 15 years ago when Cowan was a young, inexperienced reporter for the L.A. Times’s community newsroom in Orange County.

“I still don’t know what made her decide to appoint herself my career guide. But I will be forever grateful she did (and that I had enough sense to do whatever she told me),” Cowan wrote. “In addition to being a dear friend and a generous mentor within the newsroom, she is a savvy tactician when it comes to finding your way in what we all know can be a forbidding industry. She introduced me to so many people who I am still close to and who helped me find work and keep working.”

“I can’t think of someone more deserving. She is a gem. I’m very touched that Henry’s legacy continues in this way. I know she will carry the torch brightly,” said Lindi Dreibelbis, Henry’s widow.

Do’s writing on culture and trauma has won awards from Columbia University and AAJA, and she received Yale’s Poynter Fellowship in Journalism. In 2016, she was part of the L.A. Times’ team that won a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage of the San Bernardino terrorist attacks, and in 2024 she was part of the team named a Pulitzer finalist for breaking news coverage of the Monterey Park shootings. She has completed Poynter’s Leadership Academy for Women in Media. Apart from words, her passion is dog rescue, having volunteered on missions around the globe.

This award honors former L.A. Times editor Henry Fuhrmann, a longtime leader and mentor in both ACES and AAJA-Los Angeles, who gave generously of his time and expertise to help shape the careers of many journalists at all career stages. Both organizations thank this year’s judges, Julie Patel Liss and Samantha Masunaga from AAJA-LA and Crystal Yang, Christine Ma and Ellen Kuwana from ACES, and a special thanks to AAJA-LA’s Maneeza Iqbal for her organizational help. To support this award, tax-deductible donations can be made to the ACES Education Fund or AAJA-LA (please specify the donation is for the Fuhrmann Award). Questions about the award can be sent to AAJA-LA Advisory Board Member Julie Patel Liss (aajalalosangeles@gmail.com).