Apply for the 2017 Print/Online News Internship Grant Here
The Print and Online News Internship Grant supports Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) pursuing journalism careers in print and online news, where AAPIs continue to be underrepresented. We encourage all college students who have secured a 2017 summer internship to apply for the grant to help defray living costs. The William Woo Internship Fund will award one student $1,000.
ABOUT WILLIAM F. WOO
William F. Woo was the Lorry I. Lokey Visiting Professor of Professional Journalism at Stanford University from the fall of 1996 until his death on April 12, 2006. He also was a visiting professor at the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong from 1999 through 2006. From 1996 to 2003, he was a lecturer in ethics at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.
Woo was the first Asian American to edit a major American newspaper. He retired as editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in August 1996, after holding the position for 10 years. In his 34 years at the paper he served as editor of the editorial page, Washington-based columnist, feature writer, special projects reporter and editorial writer.
Woo was born in Shanghai in 1936 and spent the first 10 years of his life there. He graduated from the University of Kansas, with honors in English literature. He was a reporter for the Kansas City Star before joining the Post-Dispatch. Woo was a longtime member of the National Advisory Board of the George Foster Peabody Awards for broadcast journalism and the Board of Visitors of the John F. Knight Fellowships at Stanford. He frequently served as a juror for the Pulitzer Prizes, and was a three-time finalist himself. He was a director of the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the American Press Institute for many years. From 1995 to 2001, he was a commissioner of the President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. In 1996-97, he was a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University.
Woo received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Asian American Journalists Association in 1990 and the Gold Medal Honor Award from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1991. He authored many articles on journalism in such publications as the Nieman Reports, the Columbia Journalism Review and the American Studies Quarterly, published by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. From June to August 1997, he and his wife, Martha Shirk, also a journalist, were Knight International Press Fellows in Hong Kong, where they monitored press freedom as Chinese rule was restored. Beginning in 1999, he made regular trips to Asia to lecture on journalism.
Following his death, the University of Missouri Press published “Letters from the Editor,” a collection of his letters to his journalism students at Stanford, with an introduction by Philip Meyer and a foreword by James Steele. All profits from the book are donated to the Asian American Journalists Association for the internship grant in Woo’s name.
He and his wife had three sons – Thomas Woo, Bennett Woo and Peter Woo.
William Woo Print and Online New Internship Grant Recipients
Aneri Pattani is currently a student at Northeastern University pursuing a major in journalism. She was previously a reporting fellow for The Texas Tribune and is currently an assignment desk and strategic content intern with CNBC. After graduation, Aneri hopes to become a daily reporter, preferably in a large urban market. “The AAJA internship grant that I received made it possible for me to accept a summer fellowship at The Texas Tribune, even though it only paid a stipend. I got to report on meaningful stories ranging from environmental justice to mental health services to a Supreme Court ruling on abortion laws,” Aneri says. Later in her career, she hopes to work for an online outlet committed to investigative and social justice reporting, such as ProPublica or Reveal.
Yahui “Ellis” Liang just graduated from Princeton University in June. This past summer, she worked as the China Desk intern for the South China Morning Post. In using her internship grant, she was able to land a job at the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong. To attain this position, Ellis deferred her acceptance to Yale Law School. She loves the work she is doing so much, that she is already considering deferring law school for yet another year. In the long run, she would love to combine her passion for journalism and law and become a media counsel or legal reporter.
Leslie Nguyen-Okwu used the Print and Online News Internship Grant towards her journalism internship at the online non-profit Mission Local last summer where she learned how to produce highly-focused community journalism in the Mission District of San Francisco. “I cultivated important tools as more readers migrate to the virtual realm: social media strategies, online networking, computer-assisted reporting and news blogging,” Leslie says. The grant allowed Leslie to live in the community where she worked, providing her with the wherewithal to understand the Mission District in an immersive way while also funding her living expenses. She is a current senior at Stanford University and is pursuing a career and an advanced degree in foreign correspondence and international relations.
HOW TO APPLY
Eligibility and Rules
Applicants must be committed to AAJA’s mission.
Applicants must have a serious interest in pursuing journalism as a career in the print or online field.
Applicants must be a full-time college student or recent college graduate (within one year).
Applicants must have already secured a 2017 summer internship at a print or online news outlet/company before applying for this internship grant.
AAJA membership is not required to apply, but is strongly encouraged. Student membership will be required for the selected candidate.
This stipend is to be used toward living expenses/transportation during the internship. The selected candidate will sign a waiver acknowledging this.
Please email Justin Seiter at justins@aaja.org with any questions. The 2017 application can be found here – the deadline to apply is April 16, 2017.
PRIVACY POLICY
Application information will only be used internally by AAJA to promote student opportunities and for program evaluation and planning. In the application form, please indicate whether you would like to be notified of further student opportunities from AAJA, including scholarships, grants and additional journalism training.
AAJA does not share applicant information with third parties.