2011-2012 Scholarship and Fellowships

2011-2012 RADIO TELEVISION DIGITAL NEWS FOUNDATION 2011-2012

SCHOLARSHIPS & FELLOWSHIPS

Faces of the Foundation

The Radio Television Digital News competitive basis with nearly half of the assistance to those breaking into the Foundation provides more than scholarships dedicated to minorities. ﬁeld.” $34,000 annually in scholarships and RTDNF is proud to offer opportunities Students and professional journalists fellowships through its scholarship for students and working journalists to from around the country enter into a program. RTDNF offers scholarships pay for college and prepare for a career competitive pool of applicants where and fellowships each year to college in journalism. their portfolio is reviewed by judges. students pursuing careers in radio, television, and digital media. “These are the future leaders in our RTDNF is proud to award 11 Fellowships are awarded to electronic industry,” says Mark Kraham, RTDNF scholarships and three fellowships for journalists with 10 years of experience Chairman. “What better way to launch 2011. Class of 2011-2012 scholarship or less. These awards are made on a their careers in journalism than by and fellowship recipients represent ten helping their education, and providing different colleges and universities as the new face of the foundation. 2011-2012 Scholarship and Fellowship Recipients

LOU AND CAROLE PRATO SPORTS REPORTING SCHOLARSHIP JONAH JAVAD

Jonah Javad is a multi-platform sports journalist for KOMU-TV in Columbia, Missouri. The Boston native is an Emmy-award winner and proud member of the Missouri School of Journalism.

Journalism is an ever-changing industry, but the long-standing philosophies have never diminished. Javad reports with immediacy, accuracy and the lost art of creativity. Whether covering the Joplin tornado or high school football, he inds stories that impact and inspire the community. The future may be uncertain, but Javad embraces it with an open mind and an open mic.

Jonah Says: “My cell phone rang as I marched to the 4th hole green. Delaying the inevitable three-putt for bogey, I answered to ind out I won the Lou and Carole Prato Scholarship. Needless to say, etiquette was not evident for a few moments. So, I composed Click here to view Jonah’s work! myself, grabbed my putter and shanked four straight putts. I could only think about all the talented and revered people I’d get a chance to meet at the convention in September.”

About the Scholarship: Lou Prato was RTDNA treasurer from 1981 to 2001 and served as secretary of RTDNF's Board of Trustees until 2006. Prato's friends and colleagues have endowed an RTDNF scholarship in honor of Lou and his wife, Carole. The scholarship will provide a $1,000 tuition grant to a deserving student who is planning a career as a sports reporter in television or radio. Applicants should have strong writing skills.

GEORGE FOREMAN TRIBUTE TO LYNDON B. JOHNSON SCHOLARSHIP TORRIE HARDCASTLE

Torrie Hardcastle is a senior at The University of Texas, where she is double majoring in Radio-Television-Film and Journalism. In addition to serving as Editor-In Chief of UT’s student-produced Orange Magazine and interning at several local news media, she enjoys traveling, volunteering and cheering on her favorite sports teams. Upon graduating, she hopes to work as a sports reporter for ESPN or Sports Illustrated, or travel the world for National Geographic.

Torrie Says: “Finding out that I won the George Foreman Tribute to Lyndon B. Johnson Scholarship was a complete surprise -- a wonderful surprise!”

Click here to view Torrie’s work!

About the Scholarship: George Foreman, TV commentator, entrepreneur and former heavyweight champion, created this $6,000 annual scholarship to honor Lyndon B. Johnson. It was developed for a broadcast journalism student at the University of Texas-Austin. THE MIKE REYNOLDS JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP JONATHAN KETZ

Jonathan Ketz is a multi-media journalist at KOMU 8 News in Columbia, Missouri. He is a senior at the University of Missouri-Columbia, pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Radio-Television Journalism. Ketz enjoys his time at KOMU and is working toward becoming a reporter and anchor in the near future.

Ketz is originally from Kansas City, Missouri and relishes in returning to cheer on his Chiefs and Royals.

Jonathan Says: “I applied because I wanted my mother to have the chance to remove some of the burden of paying for my college tuition. College is a very hard thing for my family to pay for.”

Click here to view Jonathan’s work!

About the Scholarship: Mike Reynolds, who died in 1988 of a brain tumor at age 45, was assignment editor and then managing editor at KCCI-TV in Des Moines, IA. The scholarship that honors his memory requires applicants to be enrolled in journalism school and have good writing ability, excellent grades, a dedication to the news business, strong interest in pursuing a career in electronic journalism and a demonstrated need for ﬁnancial assistance.

PETE WILSON JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP JESSICA SAVAGE

Jessica’s passion for journalism arose from her grandparents’ imprisonment during World War II, and journalism has given her the perfect outlet to tell their story and to report on social injustice.

San Jose State’s newscast has created a platform for Jessica where she learns from new people everyday. A self-proclaimed news junkie, she also enjoys exercising, reading, and volunteering in her community. Traveling and exploring have become her other passions and she aspires to be an international journalist to learn about the different countries and cultures in the world.

Jessica Says: “I just came back from studying abroad in Europe and was currently raising money to try and go on a trip to Cuba with the journalism department. We will be ilming a documentary about the revolution and without this scholarship I Click here to view Jessica’s work! would not have gone on this trip.”

About the Scholarship: In memory of ABC7’s late news anchor, Pete Wilson, KGO-TV established The Pete Wilson Journalism Scholarship. The endowment provides an annual $2,000 scholarship to students from the San Francisco Bay area pursuing an undergraduate degree in journalism. PRESIDENTS SCHOLARSHIP

SARAH PHINNEY

Sarah Phinney is a junior telecommunications and journalism major at Ball State University. She reports for Indiana Public Radio and is managing editor of Ball State’s award-winning television station, NewsLink Indiana, where she reports and produces weekly.

Sarah has interned at WEWS-TV in Cleveland and WTOL-TV in Toledo, Ohio. This past summer Sarah was selected for the Poynter Fellowship for College Journalists where she worked closely with Poynter faculty to develop her storytelling skills.

Sarah strives to tell important, people-focused stories that have an impact on her community. She is constantly looking for ways to grow both personally and professionally.

Sarah Says: “I am extremely lattered that a prestigious organization like RTDNF would award me this scholarship. I am so grateful to have the support of such a great organization.” Click here to view Sarah’s work!

About the Scholarship: Two $1,000 awards given in honor of former RTDNA Presidents Theodore Koop, Bruce Dennis, James McCulla, John Salisbury, Bruce Palmer, Dick Cheverton, Jim Byron, Ben Chatﬁeld and John Hogan. Only currently enrolled college sophomores, juniors and seniors in good standing are eligible to apply.

PRESIDENTS SCHOLARSHIP

SAMANTHA BARANOWSKI

Sam Baranowski dreamt of being a reporter since she used a hairbrush as a microphone to interview her family at age 6. Today as Senior Reporter for Phoenix14News, she has that same passion for journalism, just with different tools. Sam says she will be eternally grateful to her Elon faculty for her internship at 60 Minutes, where she worked side-by-side with the people who sparked her interest in journalism.

Samantha’s highlights of four years reporting for Phoenix14News include investigating sex traficking in NC and Skyping in from the London protests in 2010. She is anxiously awaiting her future career in news.

Samantha Says: "RTDNA as an organization has been so key in helping me explore our industry and solidify my love for news, so to say I'm honored to receive this award is an understatement! I am excited to attend EIJ next year for the irst time as a local news Click here to view Samantha’s work! reporter, instead of a student member and cannot wait to start my career in broadcast journalism."

Emanuele Berry is fascinated with people and their struggles. This fascination led her to pursue two majors at Michigan State University: journalism and liberal arts. Emanuele is the news director of the award-winning college radio station WDBM 89.9 FM. This past summer, while working as a reporting intern for the local public radio station WKAR 90.5 FM, she also assisted in analyzing digital literacy programs in Detroit. In addition to radio, Emanuele has worked on two documentary ilms; one about urban agriculture and the other about international students. As an NPR devotee, her dream is to one day be a reporter on public radio or TV and tell the kind of in-depth stories that Ed Bradley covered. Emanuele feels privileged to receive an award associated with Bradley, a reporter she highly admires.

Click here to view Emanuele’s work! Emanuele Says: “How can having my name associated with Ed Bradley not help my journalism career? I am so honored and thankful for this opportunity.”

About the Scholarship: Ed Bradley, 60 Minutes correspondent at CBS News, was once a teacher and made a switch to journalism. Bradley spoke of introducing deserving minority students to communications career, and endowed this $10,000 annual award administered by RTDNF.

ED BRADLEY SCHOLARSHIP - HONORABLE MENTION

REEMA KHRAIS

Reema Khrais is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill majoring in electronic communication and political science. Khrais has worked in radio, television and newspaper newsrooms for the past four years. She is an anchor for UNC’s student-produced radio newscast, Carolina Connection, and an intern for the national radio program, “The Story with Dick Gordon.” A luent Arabic speaker, Khrais traveled to Egypt this past summer to document the revolution and produce radio pieces to air on “The Story.” She also interned at the CNN headquarters in Atlanta, where she wrote stories on the brutality in Syria and the effects of Gadhai’s old regime on Libyan-Americans.

Click here to view Reema’s work!

About the Scholarship: Ed Bradley, 60 Minutes correspondent at CBS News, was once a teacher and made a switch to journalism. Bradley spoke of introducing deserving minority students to the communications career ﬁeld and endowed this $10,000 annual award administered by of RTDNF. CAROLE SIMPSON SCHOLARSHIP

PAULA MACHADO

Paula Machado is an electronic journalism student at the Nicholson School of Communication at the University of Central Florida. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, she is bilingual in English and Spanish. Among her jobs and internships, Paula has worked at Univision Orlando, NY1 Noticias in New York City and is currently interning at the CBS afiliate in Orlando. Paula is the Central Florida student representative for NAHJ, Education Chair for UCF’s RTDNA chapter and the recent recipient of the NASCAR/ Wendell Scott Award for communication students.

Click here to view Paula’s work!

About the Scholarship: Carole Simpson, ABC news senior correspondent, created this annual $2,000 award to encourage and help minority students overcome hurdles along their career path. Besides honoring those with talent, Carole is strict about her applicants meeting requirements in tenacity, determination and ambition to excel.

THE PETE WILSON JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP (GRADUATE)

ROBERTO DAZA

Roberto Daza is a journalist based in California currently working toward a master’s degree at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism, focusing on television and documentary ilmmaking. He spent the early part of his professional carrier as a researcher and technical writer. Over the years, he's reported on everything from immigration to science, education to crime. Daza has worked at PBS’s cross- platform science show, Quest; as a crime reporter for the news site, Oakland North; as managing editor for El Tecolote, a bilingual newspaper covering San Francisco’s Mission District and as a health reporter for the Seattle Times. Daza’s work has also appeared in The San Francisco Chronicle, The Bay Citizen, and The Economist. In his spare time, you can catch him iddling with “techy” gadgets or enjoying some indoor-rock climbing. Click here to view Roberto’s work!

About the Scholarship: In memory of the late news anchor, Pete Wilson, ABC7, KGO-TV established The Pete Wilson Journalism Scholarship. The endowment will provide an annual $2,000 scholarship to students from the San Francisco Bay area pursuing a graduate degree in journalism. ABE SCHECHTER GRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP NADIA ZAFFAR

Nadia Zaffar is a Presidential Fellow at Emerson College where she is pursuing a Master's in Broadcast Journalism. She is also this year's winner of the CNN Broadcast Journalism graduate scholarship awarded by the South Asian Journalist's Association (SAJA). Nadia studied International Relations and Film Production at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She was Chair of the Model United Nations MHC Chapter and received a number of awards for her participation.

Prior to joining Emerson College, Nadia worked as a TV journalist in Karachi, Pakistan. Nadia worked as an anchor and producer at DawnNews, Pakistan’s irst 24- hour English language news channel. With DawnNews, Nadia was involved in some of the major news stories covered by the channel. She reported from the lood-affected areas of Sindh in 2007 and presented and planned the special reports for General Elections 2008. Nadia also worked on documentaries at Business Plus TV and New York Times Television. Click here to view Nadia’s work!

About the Scholarship: Abe Schechter, a true pioneer of radio news, became the first vice president of news for NBC. He began his career in newspapers, and then moved to radio. During World War II, he became senior public relations officer for General Douglas MacArthur. He eventually returned to NBC where he helped create the Today show. From there, he became part owner of the Mutual Broadcasting System. In the 1960s Schechter founded a PR firm that he and his business partner, former RTDNF Trustee George Glazer, subsequently sold to Hill & Knowlton. Schechter and his wife died in a car accident in 1989 and this $2,000 scholarship was established in his memory.

N.S. BIENSTOCK FELLOWSHIP

ANAYANSI DIAZ CORTES

Anayansi Diaz-Cortes is an independent producer and reporter for public radio. Her documentaries have been featured on NPR's All Things Considered, WBEZ’s This American Life and KCRW's Unictional. Her career in radio began at Radio Diaries, a regular feature of NPR’s All Things Considered. Her work has been honored by the Overseas Press Club, the Edward R. Murrow Award and the Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus award. This past year, she worked with ive young women around the world to document their daily lives for an hour-long radio series, "Countries in Transition, Women in Transition".

She dreams of the day when she will apply her skills in her native Mexico to produce sound-rich, radio stories and documentaries for a Latin American audience.

Anayansi Says: “It’s a joy to be recognized by an organization that for more than ive decades has honored broadcast radio. Thank you RTDNF Click here to view Anayansi’s work! and the N.S. Bienstock Fellowship for fostering a community of journalists that is inclusive, cutting-edge and puts a human voice in headline news.”

About the Fellowship: An award established in 1999 by N.S. Bienstock, Inc. owners, Richard Leibner and Carole Cooper. N.S. Bienstock is a leading talent agency in news and reality-based programming for more than 35 years and is a long-time member of RTDNA. This award recognizes a promising minority journalist in radio or television news. JACQUE MINNOTTE HEALTH REPORTING FELLOWSHIP EUNA LHEE

Euna Lhee is an independent journalist based in Chicago, Illinois. She was most recently a reporter for Florida Public Radio as a part of the HealthyState.org project – an initiative to bring Florida health news to younger audiences through multimedia storytelling. In 2011, she was a recipient of multiple fellowships and awards, including the Florida Public Health Association’s “Outstanding Reporter Award” and also irst place in the “Mobile Journalist” category in the Florida Associated Press Broadcasters Award Contest.

Lhee has worked as a reporter for the Media Institute of Southern Africa, Radio France Internationale, France 24 and The Baltimore Sun. While pursuing journalism, Lhee has also worked as a researcher in a breast cancer vaccine lab at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, as a freelance violinist in France, as a civil servant for the Ministry of Education in South Korea and as an international aid and development worker in Botswana.

Click here to view Euna’s work!

About the Fellowship: This award was created to honor former news director and Medstar executive Jacque Minnotte, who died in 1993. This fellowship recognizes excellence in health or medical television and radio reporting. RTDNF will award a $2000 cash fellowship to a journalist in radio and television with fewer than 10 years of experience.

MICHELLE CLARK FELLOWSHIP ASHLEY SINGH

Ashley Singh is a reporter with FOX43 in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. She began her reporting career in Lynchburg, Virginia working for ABC13. Prior to reporting, Ashley worked as a producer for CBS6 in Richmond, Virginia and NBC29 in Charlottesville, Virginia. She also worked as a news assistant with NBC4 in Washington, D.C. and interned with NBC News Channel on Capitol Hill. Ashley wanted to be a journalist for as long as she can remember. She feels very fortunate to be working in a profession she is so passionate about. She enjoys reporting on a variety of subjects and has won several awards for her work.

Ashley Says: I was so excited to hear that I won an award that represents a journalist who was courageous, hard working and passionate. For me, the news has always represented the truth and whatever the truth may be, like Michele Clark, I too will ight Click here to view Ashley’s work! to report it.

About the Fellowship: RTDNF's ﬁrst fellowship is named for the CBS News correspondent who was killed in a plane crash while on assignment in 1972. Her family and colleagues at CBS created a fund in her name, endowing a permanent $1,000 award for young, promising minority professionals in television or radio news.