Venus Lee, a new graduate of the University of Southern California, will intern for Người Việt 2 and complete an in-depth reporting project as a winner of the award. It was created to honor Đỗ, the founder of Người Việt Daily News and a respected leader in Little Saigon, who passed away on Aug. 17, 2006.

''I am honored to be the first recipient of the YếnĐỗ Fellowship because it pays tribute to the well-respected citizen journalist who started Người Việt by himself with almost nothing,'' said Lee, 22. ''I very much admire his dedication to the community and clever resourcefulness. He embodied the spirit and talent of a true community journalist that I aspire to be.''

Stirred by his life’s work, dozens of men, women and groups — from Vietnamese scouts and Buddhists and Catholics to immigrant businesses and American educators and writers — from around the nation gave their support. A Chinese American sociology major from USC, now a teacher in Beijing, sent $5,000, and several people taped $20 bills on the classified-ad order form they picked up in the newspaper’s lobby.

Đỗ’s family contributed $10,000 and Đỗ’s daughter, Anh, shortly before her father’s memorial service, worked with professors at her alma mater to create ''something original'' beyond a scholarship for a young person dedicated to pursuing a career in journalism.

''The intent,'' she said, ''is to connect young minds and young energy to the community — all to tell good stories. Stories that recharge the humanity in each of us.''

Sherine B. Walton, the deputy director for the Center on Public Diplomacy at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication, said leaders of the journalism school had seen an interest among students interested in exploring topics related to Asians and the Vietnamese Diaspora. She said the officials were excited to find a way to encourage future journalists to research the community and to be imbedded with a media outlet such as Người Việt Daily News.

Fellows will receive a $5,000 stipend for the internship. Last fall, more than 100 donors contributed about $27,000 toward the fund, Walton said. To be eligible to become a fellow, applicants must submit an original idea for a print, broadcast or multimedia project that would allow immersion in Little Saigon or elsewhere in the United States with a Vietnamese American population, she said. Applicants must be juniors, seniors or graduate students at USC.

Pat and Paul Larkin donated to the fund after Đỗ’s death, having read about his commitment to his fellow immigrants. Pat Larkin said she was happy to know a young journalist will be a part of his legacy.

''I was just so very, very impressed with what Mr.Đỗ did with his life, how he lived his life,'' she said, focusing on ''freedom of the press, freedom of expression.''

''Mr.Đỗwas so industrious and idealistic, really,'' said Larkin, a speech and language pathologist in Southern California specializing in accent reduction. ''This scholarship is just wonderful.''

Meet the recipient
Age: 22
Birthplace: Honolulu
Residence: Los Angeles. She later will relocate to Kaneohe, Hawaii.
Ethnicity: Half Japanese, half Chinese
Education: 2007 graduate of the University of Southern California with degrees in broadcast journalism and social sciences (psychology emphasis). She will pursue a master’s degree in communications from Hawaii Pacific University, where she also hopes to play on the school’s basketball team.
Honors: Winner of two Hearst Journalism Awards, an Asian American Journalist Association — Los Angeles Times Scholarship and Asian Pacific Alumni Association Scholarship
Media experience: Internships at the Arizona Republic and Honolulu Star-Bulletin newspapers; student writer at the Daily Trojan at USC, staff member at Annenberg TV News at USC, and student volunteer at KITV-4, an ABC affiliate in Hawaii.
Fellowship project: A study of adoptions from Vietnam.
Goals as a fellow: Expanding her knowledge of the Vietnamese American culture, providing a voice for Vietnamese Americans to educate others about their culture and exploring issues of interest to the community that are overlooked in the media.