23 journalists receive fellowships and scholarships to the IRE Conference

Thanks to the generosity of donors, IRE is fortunate to have funding available to award 23 fellowships and scholarships for the June 2018 IRE Conference in Orlando.

Mark Olalde, an independent journalist in Washington, D.C., received the David Dietz Fellowship.

The fellowship was established in 2011 for the late David Dietz, an award-winning journalist and a past president of IRE. The fellowship supports early career journalists who have a demonstrated interest in financial investigative reporting.

Courtney Johns from KOLN-TV (Lincoln, Nebraska) was awarded the Napoli Management Group TV Scholarship.

Established by the Napoli Management Group to support early career TV journalists interested in investigative reporting.

Sarah Gamard and Devon Sanders, both from Louisiana State University, received the James Richard Bennett Scholarship.

The scholarships are made possible by Dr. James Richard Bennett, professor emeritus of English at the University of Arkansas. The scholarships support college students in Arkansas, Mississippi, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

Jessica Priest from the Victoria Advocate (Victoria, Texas) and Saja Hindi from the Fort Collins Coloradoan (Fort Collins, Colorado) were awarded the Godfrey Wells Stancill Fellowship.

Established by former IRE board member Nancy Stancill and her family in memory of her father, Godfrey Wells Stancill, who was an editor and publisher of the Suffolk (Va.) News-Herald. The fellowships support journalists working for newspapers with a Sunday circulation of under 50,000.

Melissa Montoya from The News-Press (Fort Myers, Florida), Hayat Norimine from the Seattle Met (Seattle, Washington), April Simpson from Current (Washington, D.C.), Steph Solis from Asbury Park Press (Neptune, New Jersey) and Nicole Foy from the Idaho Press-Tribune (Nampa, Idaho) were awarded Philip L. Graham Fund Fellowships.

Established by the Philip L. Graham Fund to increase diversity of the investigative journalism community. The fund is named for the late publisher of The Washington Post and president of The Washington Post Company (now Graham Holdings Company).

Carlos Vazquez Ortero from the Orlando Sentinel (Orlando, Florida), Silvia Foster-Frau from the San Antonio Express-News (San Antonio, Texas), David Manoucheri from KCRA-TV (Sacramento, California) and Loren Thomas from WLTX-TV (Columbia, South Carolina) received IRE’s Minority Development Scholarship.

IRE established the Minority Development Fund in order to increase the diversity of the IRE membership.

Lindsey Boyd from San Jose State University, Lauren Mapp from San Diego State University, Amanda Lien from Temple University, Erin Dobrzyn from California State University, Long Beach and Ashlea Brown from Spelman College received Columbia Journalism School Student Fellowships.

Established by the Columbia Journalism School to provide future journalists the ability to attend the IRE conference in order to network, receive training and to learn about journalism trends to better prepare for successful careers.

Katie Shepherd from the Willamette Week (Portland, Oregon) and Sami Edge from The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, New Mexico) received the Jennifer Leonard Scholarship.

Established by IRE member David Cay Johnston to honor his wife, Jennifer, who is a national leader in promoting ethical standards for endowments. The scholarship supports women studying journalism or in their first three years of their professional journalism career.

Katrease Stafford from the Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan) received a Chicago Tribune Foundation Fellowship.

The Chicago Tribune Fellowships support IRE’s goal of increasing diversity within the investigative journalism community.

If you are interested in applying for a fellowship or scholarship for financial assistance for future IRE training events, go here for more information and due dates. The next deadline is June 18 for fellowships and scholarships to attend August boot camps.