Scholarship

Each year, the Arkansas Pro Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists awards a scholarship to at least one deserving college student majoring in journalism or a related field. For the 2019-20 academic year Arkansas SPJ will award at least two $1,000 scholarships. The application deadline is March 29. Apply today.

To learn more about the Arkansas Pro Chapter’s 2018 scholarship recipients, visit here.

For more information, contact Scholarship Committee Chairperson Sonny Rhodes or President Jennifer Ellis. Donations can be made by check payable to Arkansas SPJ.

Winthrop Rockefeller Freedom of Information Scholarship

This scholarship is named for the Arkansas governor who served from January 1967 to January 1971. The Arkansas Freedom of Information Act was enacted during his time in office. He died in 1973.

Dean Duncan Scholarship

This scholarship is named for a longtime journalism and public relations specialist, who worked for such newspapers as the Arkansas Gazette and Louisville Courier Journal. He worked for the University of Central Arkansas from the late 1960s until retiring in 1990. He died in 2016.

J.N. Heiskell Scholarship

This scholarship is named for the Arkansas Gazette publisher, who owned and edited the newspaper from 1902 until his death in 1972. The newspaper won two Pulitzer Prizes during his tenure.

K.A. Engel Scholarship

This scholarship is named for the former owner, president, and general manager of the Arkansas Democrat. He died in 1968. His nephews, Marcus George and Chase Stanley Berry, took over the paper upon his death. They sold the paper in 1974 to WEHCO.

Jerol H. Garrison Scholarship

This scholarship is named for a longtime journalist and public relations specialist who worked with the Arkansas Gazette and Entergy Arkansas. This scholarship is earmarked for someone majoring in PR.