Congratulations to the 2012 Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholars!

Left to right: Sophia Jones. Georgia Wells, Eva Dou, Elisa Mala, Beibei Bao, James Jeffrey, Catherine Ryan Gregory, Max Seddon, Lauren Rosenfeld, Rachel Will, Jia Feng, Lauren Zumbach, Lauren E. Bohn, and Nizar Manek.

Beibei Bao, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Roy Rowan Scholarship

Lauren Bohn, American University in Cairo, H.L. Stevenson Internship

Eva Dou, University of Missouri, S&P Award for Economic & Business Reporting

Jia Feng, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, Theo Wilson Scholarship

Catherine Ryan Gregory, University of Oregon, Irene Corbally Kuhn Scholarship

James Jeffrey, University of Texas at Austin, David R. Schweisberg Memorial Scholarship
 
Sophia Jones, George Washington University, Reuters Scholarship

Elisa Mala, Columbia University, Flora Lewis Internship

Nizar Manek, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Harper’s Magazine Scholarship in memory of I.F. Stone

Lauren Rosenfeld, University of California at Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Walter & Betsy Cronkite Scholarship

Max Seddon, Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, Stan Swinton Internship

Georgia Wells, Stanford Graduate School of Journalism, Emanuel R. Freedman Scholarship

Rachel Will, University of Southern California, Jerry Flint Internship for International Business Reporting

Lauren Zumbach, Princeton University, Alexander Kendrick Internship

Congratulations to the 2012 winners of the OPC Foundation Scholarships. Nearly 200 applications from almost 70 different colleges were received in a very competitive year. The awards were presented at the annual Scholarship Luncheon on February 17, 2012.

Congratulations to 2008 Stan Swinton winner Paul Sonne (center) for winning an Overseas Press Club Award. Based in London, Paul and his colleagues from the Wall Street Journal won the Malcolm Forbes Award for best international business reporting in newspapers. The winning series of articles, “Censorship, Inc,” described how Iran, Egypt, Libya and Syria used technology from Western and Chinese companies to spy on dissidents, conduct surveillance, and track mobile phone use.

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The work of 2006 OPC Foundation scholar Rawya Rageh reporting for Al Jazeera English on air and on Twitter was named one of the top 50 news stories produced by graduates of Columbia Journalism School as part of its Centennial Celebration. Rawya was in Cairo’s Tahrir Square for the dramatic protests that toppled Hosni Mubarak and marked the historic bloom of the Arab Spring. 

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2009 OPC Foundation scholarship winner Jeff Horwitz is a finalist for a 2012 Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism for his article, “Banks Took Billions in Insurance Kickbacks” in American Banker.   

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2001 OPC Foundation/Kendrick scholarship winner Melissa Chan has been expelled from China. Melissa had been a reporter for Al-Jazeera English based in China for five years. Her press credentials and visa were not extended and AJE had no choice but to close its Beijing bureau.

The Overseas Press Club Foundation is the 501 (C)(3) charitable organization affiliated with the Overseas Press Club, which was founded in New York City in 1939 by a group of foreign correspondents to improve the profession of international journalism. The Foundation has a broad mandate to improve the media's understanding of international issues and to raise the quality of news-gathering efforts in covering the world. The most tangible expression of this charter is a scholarship program for undergraduate and graduate students in American colleges and universities, who aspire to become foreign correspondents. The program began in 1992 and every year offers $2,000 scholarships to 14 talented student winners of a national essay competition. In 2006, the OPC Foundation began partnering with media organizations to offer internships. The Foundation pays travel and living expenses for interns in foreign bureaus. Six of this year's winners will have internships with Associated Press (Cairo, Johannesburg, and Bangkok) and Reuters (Singapore, Beijing, and Hong Kong).

The Foundation feels it is more important than ever to encourage young correspondents to travel and work abroad particularly at a time when many major news organizations have sharply reduced their networks of experienced correspondents around the world.