Raymond Baccari
Editor-in-Chief
The Rhode Island Press Association is now accepting applications for their annual $1,000 scholarship. The scholarship is awarded to one “outstanding Rhode Island high school senior or college student preparing for a career in journalism.”
Students who are interested in applying for this scholarship do not have to major in journalism to do so. The judges are basing who wins this scholarship on two pieces of criteria: the applicant’s expressed interest in journalism and how they have performed academically.
The expressed interest could be something along the lines of has this student written for a school newspaper or even a local publication in their city or town. It could even include working for a college newspaper such as Rhode Island College’s student-run newspaper: The Anchor.
Past winners include those who have written for their college’s or town’s publication such as Pia Charlotta Peterson, who won in 2016 and wrote for ecoRI News. Other winners include Allison Farelly in 2015, who was editor-in-chief for The Good 5 Cent Cigar, URI’s school newspaper. The year before that, in 2014, Patrick O’Brien, a former staff writer for CCRI’s newspaper, The Unfiltered Lens, won the $1,000 scholarship.
One of the requirements in order to be eligible for this scholarship is applicants must be a resident of Rhode Island. According to their website’s page about the scholarship, another requirement is that nominees have to be “attending or accepted to any college or university who are entering the 2023-24 academic year, or full-time graduate students.”
The winner of this scholarship money will be paid directly.
Students who are interested in applying for the scholarship can email Elyse Major, editor in chief of Providence Media and a graduate of Rhode Island College at elyse@providenceonline.com.
In the email, applicants are asked to include:
A letter of nomination from a high school or college official or teacher explaining the student’s achievements.
Cover letter.
Resume.
Examples of the student’s work, either linked or attached, which can include news stories they have written, class work, or any additional samples that can showcase their work in journalism.
The deadline to submit an application via email to Major is Friday, March 24, 2023.