For a half-century, the Virginia SPJ,SDX Educational Foundation, the nonprofit arm of the SPJ Virginia Pro Chapter, has been awarding fellowships and scholarships to deserving college students.
The foundation provides fellowships for students at accredited Virginia colleges and universities to support their summer internships at print and electronic news organizations. Each fellowship will include a cash stipend ranging from $500 to $1,500, which can be used for expenses incurred in performing a supervised, full-time summer internship of at least six weeks.
The deadline to apply for a fellowship for the summer of 2021 has passed. (We awarded $1,000 fellowships to three college students.)
In early 2022, we will post instructions on how to apply for a fellowship for the summer of 2022.
The amount of each stipend will be determined by the foundation trustees based on an applicant’s estimated out-of-pocket internship costs, such as living expenses, equipment, professional attire, travel costs, publications, subscriptions, supplies and so on. Stipends will be paid upon independent confirmation of an internship offer by the fellow’s host news organization. An evaluation provided by the fellow’s supervisor will be required upon completion of the internship.
Responsibility for securing summer news internships belongs entirely to each applicant. The foundation will not assist with finding or obtaining internship opportunities. (But you don’t have to have a summer internship lined up in order to apply for the fellowship. In your application, you can describe the internship you’re hoping to get.) Students whose internships are paid or unpaid may apply.
Here is a list of the fellowship and scholarship recipients over the past 50 years, including short bios of some of them.
