Nine College students have been selected by the National Press Photographers Foundation to receive ten $2,000 scholarships, professor emeritus Dr. James W. Brown of Indiana University announced. Brown is the NPPF scholarship chair.
New this year – Sony provides a new scholarship and A6000 cameras to all scholarship winners.
Christopher Assaf, graduate student at the University of Texas – Austin, is the winner of the Kit King Scholarship.
Skyler Ballard, undergraduate at Western Kentucky University, won the NPPF Still and Multimedia Scholarship.
Michael Blackshire, undergraduate at Western Kentucky University, won the Jimi Lott Scholarship.
Bryan Cereijo, graduate student at University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, won the Sony’s Photojournalism Scholarship.
Morgan Hornsby, undergraduate the Western Kentucky University, won the Bob East Scholarship.
Emma Howells, undergraduate at Ohio University, won the Bob Baxter Scholarship.
Josephine Norris, undergraduate at Central Michigan University, won the Reid Blackburn Scholarship.
Gabriel Scarlett, undergraduate student from Western Kentucky University, won the first C. Thomas Hardin and Mary C. Hardin Documentary Scholarship.
Caleb Suggs, undergraduate at the University of Memphis, won both the NPPF TV Scholarship and the Rich Clarkson Scholarship.
The Bob East, Reid Blackburn, Bob Baxter, Kit C. King, and Jimi Lott Scholarships are endowed by donations from friends, family, and news organizations, while the Foundation funds the Still & Multimedia Scholarship and the TV News Scholarship.
Many of the Foundation’s scholarships are named after people who played an important role in visual journalism or NPPA’s history, and their memories live on but supporting undergraduate and graduate students’ educational goals.
Bob East was a colorful and widely known veteran photographer for the Miami Herald who died in 1985 after more than 45 years in the profession. He was NPPA’s national secretary, and he mentored many interns.
Reid Blackburn was only 27 when he died on assignment while covering the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. The scholarship was established in his memory by his newspaper, The Columbian of Vancouver, WA.
Bob Baxter was director of photography for the Suburban Publishing Co. in Union, NJ. He was a U.S. Navy veteran who served during World War II. In 1971, a swimming accident left Baxter a paraplegic. He spent the last eleven years of his life in East Orange Veterans Hospital where he became the hospital’s photography instructor and commentator on the in-house radio station. He died in 1982. The scholarship was established in 1979 with Baxter’s own savings along with contributions from his family, friends and professional colleagues.
Kit C. King was chief photographer for The Spokesman Review and Chronicle. A compassionate photographer who cared about the people he covered, gritty documentary photojournalism was his trademark. He died in a Snake River fishing accident in 1991.
Jimi Lott was a Seattle Times staff photographer for more than 20 years. Known for his keen eye, compassion, and boundless energy, his work focused on the less fortunate in the Seattle community, including the homeless and those with mental illness. He died in 2005 at age 52.
The NPPF Booster Club, made up of NPPA Life members, has provided significant funding over the years.
A new scholarship this year is Sony’s Photojournalism Scholarship.
Brown asks people to please consider making tax-deductible contributions to the Foundation’s scholarship program.
More information is available on the Foundation’s Web site at https://nppf.org.