2025 NPPF Scholarship Winners

Dominic Di Palermo

Loriene Perera

Fourteen college and university students have been selected by the National Press Photographers Foundation to receive $2,000 scholarships,

Dr. James Kelly of Indiana University announced on behalf of the NPPF board of directors that fourteen college and university students have been selected by the National Press Photographers Foundation to receive $2,000 scholarships. Kelly is the NPPF scholarship chair and a member of the board.

• John Stember, a May graduate (MA) from the University of Montana, is the recipient of the Bob Baxter
• Milton Lindsay, a graduate student from Ohio University, is the recipient of the Reid Blackburn
• Michael Blackshire, from Ohio University, is the recipient of the James Brown / Frank Folwell Storytelling Scholarship.
• Ayiana Andrella, an undergraduate student from Ohio University, is the recipient of the Rich Clarkson Founders
• Dominic Di Palermo, an undergraduate student from Western Kentucky University, is the recipient of the Bob East
• Abigail Cutrer, a May graduate from the University of Kentucky, is the recipient of the Liane Enkelis
• Von Smith, an undergraduate student from Western Kentucky University, is the recipient of the Mary Lou Foy Still & Multimedia
• Jordan Tovin, from George Washington University, is the recipient of the Thomas and Mary C. Hardin Scholarship.
• Md Zobayer Hossain Joati, a graduate student from Syracuse University, is the recipient of the Kit King
• HG Biggs, a graduate student from Ohio University, receives the Xan Korman
• Sage Russell, from George Washington University, received the Jimi Lott
• Loriene Perera, a graduate student from Ohio University, is the recipient of the Paul Martin Lester
• Ben Pennington, from Ohio University, is the recipient of Sony’s Photojournalism
• Grant Johnson, an undergraduate student from Ithaca College, is the recipient of the NPPF TV scholarship for television photojournalism or multimedia students specializing in video storytelling.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

The National Press Photographers Foundation appreciates our corporate sponsors who support these scholarships and their recipients. Sony funds a scholarship and provides cameras to first-time recipients, while ThinkTank offers a camera bag to everyone. We are grateful to our sponsors for their generosity and to all who have contributed and continue to support the funding of these scholarships. 

The Bob Baxter, Reid Blackburn, Bob East, Kit C. King, Xan Korman and Jimi Lott Scholarships are endowed by donations from friends, family, and news organizations. The Foundation also funds the Mary Lou Foy Still & Multimedia Scholarship and the TV News Scholarship.

The NPPF Booster Club, comprised of NPPA Life members, has provided significant funding over the years.

Many of the Foundation’s scholarships are named after individuals who played a pivotal role in visual journalism or NPPA’s history, and their memories live on through their support of 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 the NPPA’s national secretary and mentored many interns.

Reid Blackburn was only 27 when he died on assignment while covering the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. His newspaper, The Columbian of Vancouver, WA, established the scholarship in his memory.

Bob Baxter was the 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 person with paraplegia. He spent the last eleven years at 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 savings and contributions from his family, friends, and professional colleagues.

Jim Brown and Frank Folwell both have a long history of being active board members and officers for NPPF. James Brown is a retired professor and executive associate dean emeritus of the Indiana University School of Journalism. Frank Folwell is a veteran photojournalist, editor, media trainer and consultant based in the Washington, DC, area.

Liane Enkelis is an esteemed photographer who established a fund for women photojournalists to honor the people who made her career in photojournalism possible: Bettijune and Benedict Kruse, Harvey Weber, and Richard L. Enkelis.

Thomas Hardin is the past president of the NPPF and the National Press Photographers Association. As NPPA president in the 1980s, he fostered an annual NPPA-Nikon Documentary Sabbatical Grant. Hardin is the former director of photography at the Pulitzer-winning Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky, where he worked for 30 years. He was also the director of photography at The Detroit News before he retired in 1996. His book, “A Voice is Born,” documents the founding and first 40 years of NPPA. A Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame honoree, Hardin has twice been honored by NPPA with the Joseph Costa Award and the Joseph A. Sprague Award. Tom and Mary live in Louisville, Kentucky.

Kit C. King was the chief photographer for The Spokesman-Review and Chronicle. A compassionate photographer who cared about the people he covered, his trademark was gritty documentary photojournalism. He died in a Snake River fishing accident in 1991.

Xan Korman was a promising 20-year-old Butler University college junior from Maryland whose passion was sports photography. Xan died on August 19th, 2021, in Maryland, a victim of gun violence.  

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 people experiencing homelessness and those with mental illness. He died in 2005 at age 52.

Dr. Paul Martin Lester (1950 – 2023) was a renowned photojournalism professor and visual ethicist. He served as a Professor of Instruction at the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication at UT Dallas and was a Professor Emeritus at California State University, Fullerton. He authored or edited several influential books on visual communication and ethics and served as editor of several academic journals. His documentary film, The Calendar, won multiple awards in 2021. Recognized for his dedication to photojournalism ethics, Lester received the NPPA’s John Long Ethics Award in 2022 and the Kenneth P. McLaughlin Award of Merit in 2015.