SPJ/LA Announces Scholarship Winners
The Greater Los Angeles Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is pleased to support the next generation of journalists through scholarships awarded to five students from Los Angeles, Ventura and Orange counties pursuing journalism in many forms.
The 2015 scholarship winners are:
**Ken Inouye Scholarship: $1,000 awarded to a journalist of color and aimed at increasing ethnic diversity in newsrooms.
Kevin Tsukii, a journalism student at University of Southern California, designed his own curriculum blending animation and digital publishing. Tsukii combines his digital and visual chops with old-fashioned reporting skills that led him to a story about transgender murders. He's the founder and former editor of USC's culinary publication, Spoon USC. In his spare time, he's a Spanish translator and a web developer at the Immigration Clinic at USC. He graduates in 2016.
** Helen Johnson Memorial Scholarship: $1,000 awarded to a student, pursuing broadcast and multimedia journalism.
Naomi Ogaldez is a Dean's List regular, award-winning speaker and prolific writer and producer who has interned at CNN and Telemundo52. She will graduate in May from California State University, Northridge, with a B.A. in journalism, and then head right back for a Masters of Science in health administration. Ogaldez plans to pursue health reporting, with a focus on minority communities.
** Carl Greenberg Memorial Scholarship: $1,000 awarded to a student pursuing investigative or political reporting.
Katie Shepherd is a University of California, Los Angeles graduate who earned and learned her award-winning journalism skills at the Daily Bruin, and during a summer internship that produced 40 clips -- including 16 front-page stories. Shepherd's work has already taken her to the Philippines to cover the aftermath of a deadly typhoon. Soon, journalism will take her to New York City, where she's been accepted to Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism.
** Bill Farr Memorial Scholarship: This year, SPJ/LA has decided to award two $1,000 Farr scholarships to two students
Jordyn Holman is a USC student pursuing print and digital journalism on a quest to combine the ways of old-school print for the social media generation. So far, journalism has taken her from the streets of South L.A. to the streets of London. While in England, Holman wrote about how that country marks Black History Month. Back in L.A., she profiled Rev. Cecil Murray.
Bianca Gonzalez is a senior at Santa Monica High School, where her love of journalism appears in The Samohi, her high school newspaper. Gonzalez is a photo editor, and also shoots major events and writes. Using letters and photos, she recreated the love story of two Santa Monica High students-who met in 1926. Bianca intends to study broadcast journalism and political science in college, and aims to pursue a career in political broadcast.