The Sacramento Press Club’s 2013 Journalism Scholarships

 Since 1974, the Sacramento Press Club has offered scholarships to students who are preparing for a journalism career. For 2013, we awarded seven scholarships totaling $34,000.  If you would like to make a donation to the SPC Scholarship Fund, please click on the word Donate on the left side of this page.

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2013 SPC Journalism Scholarships:

On Wednesday, May 8, 2013 the Sacramento Press Club announced the names of this year’s recipients of our journalism scholarships. "The last few years have been tough for journalism, but our scholarship winners give me a lot of hope for the future," said Sacramento Press Club President Brian Joseph. "I and the other members of the scholarship selection committee had a very difficult time choosing winners this year because of the sheer number of quality applicants. It's heartening to see so many young, talented individuals who want to devote their lives to journalism."

The $4,000 SIGRID BATHEN SCHOLARSHIP is awarded to MATTHEW BLACKBURN. Sigrid is a Professor at California State University-Sacramento, and Matthew is a student at Sac State, but they had not met before Matthew won this scholarship. He’s a flight attendant for Southwest Airlines who has taken about as indirect a path as you can get through school and into reporting. His writing is terrific and he’s already reported a number of front page stories for the Davis Enterprise. His focus is on agricultural journalism.

The $4,000 A.G. BLOCK SCHOLARSHIP is awarded to BRIAN NGUYEN. Brian is a photojournalist who is already stringing for Reuters – you have probably already seen his work. He shot the now iconic image of the student “Occupy” protestors being sprayed in the face with pepper spray. He is also the photo editor of his campus newspaper, the California Aggie at the University of California, Davis.

The $4,000 LOU CANNON SCHOLARSHIP is awarded to JENNIFER CHAUSEE. Jennifer graduated from U-C Davis and she’s written for Capitol Weekly, the San Diego Union-Tribune and the Orange County Register. She will now be attending the U-C Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism because she wanted to learn to “tackle bigger stories and to work with different media outlets.”

The $4,000 JERRY GILLAM JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP is awarded to MADELEINE THOMAS. Madeleine is a U-C Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism student, and her focus is on health disparities that affect the under-served, low income and immigrant communities. This scholarship will support her as she’s working on her thesis project looking at health and environmental disparities among field workers in the Central Valley.

The $4,000 NEREIDA SKELTON JOURNALISM SCHOLARSHIP is awarded to VALERIE SMITH. Valerie will be attending CSU-East Bay, after graduating from San Joaquin Delta College. She’s been working two jobs, while going to school and serving as a reporter and editor on The Collegian, her campus newspaper. We have seen a huge trajectory in Valerie’s grades – you can almost see the minute she decided to become a reporter and has put all of her effort into making it happen.

The $6,000 JEAN STEPHENS SCHOLARSHIP is awarded to BRITTANY PATTERSON, a student at the U-C Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She is working on a thesis on the availability of substance abuse programs for young people – and it may tell you everything you need to know about Brittany that she actually lights up when she’s explaining the Affordable Care Act. She’s a graduate of San Jose State University, and this summer she’ll be reporting for the Kitsap Sun in Washington State to get more experience before finishing grad school.

The $8,000 EARL "SQUIRE" BEHRENS SCHOLARSHIP is awarded to JULIE BROWN, who grew up in Lake Tahoe and is now jumping to the other side of our state to attend the U-C Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. She has a degree in International Studies from U-C San Diego, and she covered local news in the Lake Tahoe area for the Sierra Sun. She has worked hard as a waitress to support her reporting habit, and we are proud to award her our largest scholarship this year so she can focus on what she does best, and that’s covering the news.

The 2013 Journalism Scholarships

$8,000 in honor of the late Earl "Squire" Behrens, a former political editor of the San Francisco Chronicle who covered the state Capitol for a half-century.

$6,000 in honor of the late Jean Stephens, the long-time Secretary-Treasurer of the Sacramento Press Club and a retired Sacramento City College journalism instructor who helped thousands of journalism students become professional journalists over a 30-year career.

$4,000 in honor of Sigrid Bathen, adjunct professor of communications and journalism at California State University, Sacramento. An award-winning journalist, she was a Sacramento Bee reporter for 13 years and has written for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times.  She was press secretary to the state superintendent of public instruction and the state attorney general.   She is most proud of the hundreds of students she has mentored, supported, taught and inspired in her teaching career.

$4,000 in honor of A.G. Block, Associate Director of the University of California Center Sacramento.  He created the UCCS journalism program with a goal of inspiring a new generation of political and public-affairs reporters and editors.   For more than 20 years, he was an editor at the the California Journal magazine, and he's a current contributor to Capitol Weekly.

$4,000 in honor of Lou Cannon, widely known for his many years as a syndicated columnist and White House correspondent for the Washington Post.   He is considered the premier biographer of the late President Ronald Reagan, with five published biographies.  He is now a freelance writer who lectures on the presidency, police issues, the media and California politics.

$4,000 in honor of the late Jerry Gillam, a 35-year veteran of the Capitol press corps.  He is remembered for his knowledgeable political reporting in the Los Angeles Times' Sacramento bureau, his friendly mentoring of new Capitol reporters and his larger-than-life sense of humor.

$4,000 for the Nereida Skelton Journalism Scholarship.  Nereida was a beloved journalism teacher for more than three decades.   She was the advisor to the McClatchy High School student newspaper, where she often worked long hours and served as a mentor to outstanding students.  Her straightforward approach to news and politics also had influence across the nation, as her husband George called her his "secret editor" for his L.A. Times political column.   Community college students who are transferring to a four year college will be given special consideration.