NLGJA Student Central > Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship Award

Note: The application deadline for the 2008-2009 Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship Award has passed. Stay tuned for details about the 2009-2010 award.

About the Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship Award

Leroy F. Aarons dedicated his life to journalism. He believed that the LGBT community could advance if the news media fairly and accurately portrayed the lives of LGBT individuals and their issues. This simple but visionary idea became the foundation for the NLGJA.

Aarons knew that coverage of the LGBT community, as well as that of other minority communities, required increased sophistication and training for journalists. He realized early that improving coverage had to start in the training camps for young journalists – journalism schools at the nation’s colleges and universities.

In NLGJA’s 15th year, the Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship Award was established to honor Aarons’ memory and to continue the work he began when he founded NLGJA in 1990.

The scholarship award for the 2008-2009 academic year will provide up to $5,000 in tuition funding to an LGBT student who plans a career in journalism and is committed to furthering NLGJA’s mission of fair and accurate coverage of the LGBT community.

Scholarship Eligibility

The following applicants are eligible to apply for the Leroy F. Aarons Scholarship Award:

• High school seniors who have been accepted to attend a US community college or four-year university, or who can show proof of application to a community college or four-year university and will attend full-time beginning in the 2008-2009 academic year.
• Undergraduate students who will attend a US community college or four-year university full-time during the 2008-2009 academic year.
• Undergraduate students who have been accepted for their first year of a US graduate school and have submitted a tuition deposit for the 2008-2009 academic year. Graduate students must be enrolled in a journalism program.

Applicants must be plannin­g to pursue a career in journalism and be able to demonstrate their passion and commitment to the profession. Selection will be based on journalistic and scholastic ability. Applicants also must demonstrate an awareness of the issues facing the LGBT community and the importance of fair and accurate news coverage. For undergraduates, a declared major in journalism and/or communications is desirable but not required. Non-journalism majors may demonstrate their commitment to a journalism career through work samples, internships, and work on a school news publication, online news service or broadcast affiliate.

The scholarship is available only to US citizens or permanent residents who plan to attend a full year of school in the U.S. The scholarship may not be used to pay for course work or credits earned abroad. The scholarship award may pay for tuition only. The amount of the scholarship award will not exceed the student’s annual tuition costs. Undergraduate applicants enrolled in non-news sequences must demonstrate their commitment to pursuing a journalism career through work samples, internships, work on a school news publication, online news service or broadcast affiliate. Graduate students must be enrolled in a journalism program.