Scholarship Grant & Financial Aid

The National Press Club, one of the oldest and most prestigious journalism organizations in the country, wants to recruit promising future journalists who will add to diversity in our newsrooms. So we’re helping to send talented prospects to college.

Each year, the Press Club awards the $20,000 Ellen Masin Persina/National Press Club scholarship to a high school senior interested in pursuing a career in journalism. The scholarship provides winners with a $5,000-a-year stipend for four years of undergraduate education.

The competition is open to high school seniors with a grade point average of 3.0 or better and who are preparing to enter college.

Applicants MUST provide the following information in TRIPLICATE (3 copies of all requested information). All information must be included in ONE PACKAGE, INCLUDING RECOMMENDATIONS – newspaper articles MUST be reduced to 8 ½ by 11 sheets ONLY. FAILURE TO INCLUDE ALL INFORMATION IN TRIPLICATE, INCLUDING MULTIMEDIA FORMATS, WILL RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION.

• No more than five (5) work samples demonstrating an ongoing interest in journalism through work on a high school newspaper or other media. These may be print articles (reduced to 8 ½ by 11 size), or multimedia stories on tape, CD or DVD (three copies of all media).
• A one-page essay on why you are interested in becoming a journalist and how your unique perspectives, experiences and background will help bring diversity to newsrooms and broaden the way news organizations cover communities.
• Three letters of recommendations from persons who are not members of your family (MUST BE INCLUDED IN THE SAME PACKAGE).
• A copy of your high school transcript (MUST BE MAILED IN SAME PACKAGE ALONG WITH ALL OTHER INFORMATION).
• A completed signed copy of the Financial Aid Form (FAFSA) that you submitted.
• A letter of acceptance from the college/university of your choice or some documentation indicating where you have applied.
• OPTIONAL: A very brief statement on how this scholarship would affect your decision-making about your higher education.

Supporting the Scholarship Fund

Given in memory of the late Ellen Masin Persina, an award-winning journalist and Press Club member who was active on the Scholarship Committee, the scholarship is funded by her friends and family and by money raised through National Press Club activities.

The larger our fund grows, the more generous we can be in support of our students. Because of the large number of excellent applications we receive, we look forward to the day when we have enough money to award more than one scholarship a year consistently.

Tax-deductible donations may be sent to: Eric Friedheim National Journalism Library, c/o National Press Club, 529 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20045.

Past Winners

The 2007 scholarship recipients were Tasnim Shamma of Jamaica, N.Y., and Ahmed Mabruk of Austin, Texas.

Scholarship winners are currently enrolled in Princeton University, Harvard University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Northwestern University, Southwest Texas University and Iowa State University.

Persina Scholarship Application Form

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