The Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awarded $3,500 in scholarships to eight students at the Arkansas College Media Association conference, which was hosted on April 11 at Northwest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville.
Scholarship checks were presented to the ACMA General Excellence award winners or a fellow student accepting on their behalf.
Newspaper Editor of the Year Torrie Herrington – The Echo University of Central Arkansas
Reporter of the Year Chelsea Castillo – Eagle View NorthWest Arkansas Community College
TV Anchor of the Year Haley Shourd, – Ouachita News, OBUTV Ouachita Baptist University
Photographer of the Year Meghann Bledsoe Ouachita Baptist University
TV Producer/Director of the Year Joshua Engle, OBUTV Ouachita Baptist University
Designer of the Year Addie Chumley, Ouachitonian Ouachita Baptist University
Website Editor of the Year Sydni Worley, The Signal Ouachita Baptist University
Yearbook Editor of the Year Erin Key, Ouachitonian Ouachita Baptist University
The Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awarded $3,250 in scholarships to six students at the Arkansas College Media Association convention, which was hosted on April 12 at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia.
Tiane Davis of Harding University was named Newspaper Editor of the Year and received a $1,000 scholarship. The judge said Davis was “a fantastic choice for the best of the best. The sheer volume of praise heaped upon her by people who know her best speaks to her importance to the staff, the publication and the campus. She is a wonderful example of how best to lead and manage a publication.”
Chase Hartsell of Ouachita Baptist University was named Reporter of the Year and received a $1,000 scholarship. The judge said it was a tough decision in a highly competitive category. “This reporter demonstrated the value of both the tangible skills associated with text-based and broadcast journalism as well as the intangibles, such as curiosity, wonder and general nosiness. The ability to take one’s gifts and sharpen one’s skills to create the ultimate storyteller is not often found, but here it exists in nearly perfect form. One instructor noted this individual was the best he’d seen in 32 years of education. I would be hard-pressed to disagree with that assessment.”
Easton John of Arkansas State University was named TV Producer/Director of the Year and was awarded a $250 scholarship. “It is clear that the continuing coverage and dedication to the craft of broadcasting is evident in this aspiring individual,” the judge said. “Easton John should be on the watch list for many, as his abilities span across multiple platforms with vigor and purpose. Keep up the good work, always challenge yourself, monitor the competition, and continue to hold yourself to high ethical and moral choices. Stay the course, lead by example, and safe journeys on your bright media future ahead.”
Kaelin Clay of Ouachita Baptist University won $250 awards for both Website Editor of the Year and Television Anchor of the Year. “All in all, it is clear that this person provides the heart and soul of this site and this site is worthy of great praise,” the judge said.
Sarah Dean, named Photographer of the Year, and Caroline Johnson Tubbs, named Designer of the Year, both of Ouachita Baptist University, were additional recipients of $250 scholarships. This year, no winner was awarded in the Yearbook Editor of the Year category.
Sarah Dean, named Photographer of the Year, and Caroline Johnson Tubbs, named Designer of the Year, both of Ouachita Baptist University, were additional recipients of $250 scholarships. This year, no winner was awarded in the Yearbook Editor of the Year category.
The Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is awarding $500 scholarships this fall to two students at universities in the state to help offset the financial stress of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The scholarships are in addition to two $1,000 scholarships the chapter traditionally awards each spring.
“Our chapter decided to provide the scholarships using some of the funds we typically allot for in-person programming,” said Sarah DeClerk, chapter president. “We are committed to assisting up-and-coming communications professionals, and providing these emergency scholarships is a great opportunity to do so.”
The students are Gabriel Grant Huff of West Memphis, a sophomore multimedia journalism major at Harding University in Searcy, and Mary Katherine Shapiro of McKinney, Texas, a senior English and journalism major at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
“College students are definitely feeling the financial effects of the pandemic,” said Sonny Rhodes, chair of the chapter’s scholarship committee. “We had the most scholarship applications we have had in a long time – possibly ever – in my 20-odd years of working with the scholarship committee.”
The Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is an organization that promotes journalism and advocates for journalists throughout the state. For more information, visit arkansasspj.org.
We know the pandemic has brought on extra stress and financial burdens for students everywhere.
That’s why the Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists is offering two $500 scholarships for the fall semester.
Students must act fast, though. The application deadline is Oct. 31. The two scholarships will be awarded in time for Thanksgiving! Checks will be made payable to the student.
Advisers, please help us identifying deserving students who are majoring or minoring in journalism, public relations, or a related communications emphasis.
Each of the scholarships will go to a student enrolled during the Fall 2020 semester. It will go to a student who is academically qualified, who demonstrates financial need, and who shows promise.
Each applicant may fill out an online application and submit a 500-word essay, reference letters and work samples attinyurl.com/spjscholarship.
Society of Professional Journalists — Arkansas Pro Chapter
Instructions for scholarship application
Application Deadline is April 1, 2020
Applications will be reviewed after all the necessary documents have been received. Only those applications and supporting materials emailed or postmarked by the April 1, 2020, deadline will be considered.
Besides the application, you must submit:
1. An essay about your career aspirations and any personal information deemed relevant
(500-word maximum) to demonstrate your writing ability.
2. Two letters of reference, one from a person familiar with your abilities.
3. A transcript of college grades through the Fall 2019 semester.
4. Three examples of your work and any other relevant information.
Please note: All application information will be held in strict confidence. Applications are destroyed after a decision is reached and announced.
Scholarships will be given only to a sophomore, junior, or senior attending
an Arkansas college or university during the 2020-21 school year. An applicant must be
majoring or minoring in a journalism, public relations, or an associated communications emphasis. Each scholarship will be awarded to a full-time student on the basis of need,
academic achievement, and distinguished ability in media-related fields.
Visit tinyurl.com/spjscholarship to submit your application online or email this Application and accompanying materials to cmrhodes@ualr.edu or send the materials by mail, no later than April 1, 2020, to:
Sonny Rhodes
School of Mass Communication
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
2801 South University Avenue
Little Rock, AR 72204
The Arkansas Professional Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists has announced the recipients of two $1,000 scholarships for the 2019-20 academic year and has named a new scholarship in honor of its first female member and president.
The winners are Lauren McLemore of Maumelle and Renato Betim of Fayetteville.
Lauren McLemore of Maumelle is the recipient of the inaugural Charlotte Tillar Schexnayder Scholarship in the amount of $1,000 for the 2019-20 academic year.
Lauren McLemore is a junior at the University of Central Arkansas studying journalism and sociology. She works as the associate editor for the university’s student newspaper, The Echo, and also freelance writes pieces for AY magazine and Arkansas Money and Politics. She said she hopes to use her journalistic training alongside her passion for justice and compassion to be successful in a career in media. She will receive the inaugural Charlotte Tillar Schexnayder Scholarship.
Schexnayder is a longtime Arkansas journalist as well as a pioneering leader in areas long dominated by men. Born at Tillar (Drew and Desha counties) in 1923, she graduated in 1944 from Louisiana State University, where she had served as editor of the student newspaper, the Reveille. She became editor of the McGehee Times in October 1944.
In 1955, Schexnayder and her husband, Melvin, bought the Dumas Clarion, owning the newspaper until 1998. Among her many firsts were becoming the first female member of what was then the Little Rock chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists (now called the Arkansas Pro Chapter or Arkansas SPJ) and being elected the first female president of the chapter in 1973. She became the first female president of the Arkansas Press Association in 1981 and first female president of the National Newspaper Association in 1991.
Beyond her journalistic firsts, Schexnayder was the first woman named to the Arkansas Board of Pardons and Parole and was the first female president of the Dumas Chamber of Commerce.
Renato Betim of Fayetteville is the recipient of a $1,000 J.N. Heiskell Scholarship for the 2019-20 academic year.
Renato Betim is a junior at the University of Arkansas double majoring in journalism and political science. He has worked as a senior reporter at the Eagle View, the student-run newspaper of Northwest Arkansas Community College. After completing his bachelor’s degree, Betim said he hopes to pursue a master’s degree in journalism and report on politics and social issues that impact politics in his community and nationwide. In honor of the 200th anniversary of the Arkansas Gazette, which continues today as the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, he will receive the J.N. Heiskell Scholarship.
Heiskell, owned and edited the Arkansas Gazette for 70 years until his death in 1972. The newspaper won two Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure.
The scholarship recipients will be honored at the chapter’s annual meeting and Diamond Journalism Awards ceremony at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 25, at the Flying Saucer in Little Rock.
For more information, please contact Jennifer Ellis, chapter president, at jellis@arkansasonline.com or (501) 533-0565.
Society of Professional Journalists — Arkansas Pro Chapter Instructions for scholarship application Application Deadline is March 29, 2019
Applications will be reviewed after all the necessary documents have been received. Only those applications and supporting materials emailed or postmarked by the March 29, 2019, deadline will be considered.
Besides the application, you must submit:
1. An essay about your career aspirations and any personal information deemed relevant
(500-word maximum) to demonstrate your writing ability.
2. Two letters of reference, one from a person familiar with your abilities.
3. A transcript of college grades through the Fall 2018 semester.
4. Three examples of your work and any other relevant information.
Please note: All application information will be held in strict confidence. Applications are destroyed after a decision is reached and announced.
Scholarships will be given only to a sophomore, junior, or senior attending
an Arkansas college or university during the 2019-20 school year. An applicant must be
majoring or minoring in a journalism, public relations, or an associated communications emphasis. Each scholarship will be awarded to a full-time student on the basis of need,
academic achievement, and distinguished ability in media-related fields.
Newspaper Editor of the Year
Reporter of the Year
TV Anchor of the Year
Photographer of the Year
TV Producer/Director of the Year
Designer of the Year
Website Editor of the Year
Yearbook Editor of the Year
Society of Professional Journalists | Arkansas Pro Chapter 