National Association of Hispanic Journalists Announces 2006 Scholarship Recipients; Association Awards More Than $375,000 to Latino Students

“The National Association of Hispanic Journalists awarded an unprecedented $378,500 in scholarships this fall to 47 students pursuing a career in journalism in the most competitive selection process in the association’s history.

More than 200 students applied for the scholarships, which ranged from $2,000 to $13,600, nearly doubling the number of applications from just last year and demonstrating an increased awareness of NAHJ’s educational programs. Scholarships offered annually through the organization’s Ruben Salazar Scholarship Fund, in honor of a Latino journalism pioneer killed while covering an anti-war demonstration in Los Angeles in 1970, received a big boost this year with a $335,000 grant for scholarships from CNN in celebration of its 25th anniversary.

NAHJ is able to offer more scholarships annually thanks to generous personal donations from Geraldo Rivera, senior correspondent of the Fox News Channel and Maria Elena Salinas, co-anchor of Noticiero Univision and syndicated columnist, and grants from the Newhouse Corporation and The Washington Post.

Since the association established its scholarship and educational programs in the mid 1980s, NAHJ has provided financial assistance and/or training to more than 1,000 students to help boost the number of Latinos in newsrooms and create a path towards achieving more fair and accurate coverage of the Hispanic community.

“These scholarships are key to broadening the pipeline of young Latinos getting into journalism and entering the country’s news media, so the more we can offer, the higher the chances of increasing our representation,” said Ivan Roman, executive director of NAHJ. “We believe this year’s students demonstrate the talent, dedication and promise of that mission. And with the money raised by our members, our sponsors and our donors, we’re able to reach these goals together.”

Students awarded scholarships this year hail from 40 colleges in 19 states, including California, Nevada, Texas, New Mexico, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Idaho. Twenty-five freshmen, sophomores and juniors were selected to be the CNN 25 Scholars and will each receive between $10,000 and $13,600 over the course of the rest of their journalism studies supported by the $335,000 grant from CNN.

Other scholarships ranged between $2,000 and $10,000 over a one- to three- year period for print or broadcast journalism students working in English and/or Spanish. In addition, NAHJ also paid $17,500 this fall to several students who were continuing scholarships from previous years.”

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