GPEF Scholarship Requirements
1. Parents of applicants must be legal residents of Georgia for two years or the applicant must be a resident of the state for three years.
2. Scholarship recipients must be undergraduates attending a Georgia college or university.
3. Individual need must be established. Family income is among those factors considered.
4. A prior interest in newspaper journalism must be established.
5. Applicant should be recommended by a high school counselor, principal, college professor and/or Georgia Press Association member.
6. Application may be made during senior year in high school or at any undergraduate college level.
7. Scholarship applications are applied to the current academic year. All applications must be resubmitted for consideration for next year.
8. Possible personal consideration could offset or augment any of the above.
9. Scholarship funds are mailed directly to the financial aid office of the college or university and are applied to student’s tuition.
Download an application below or request one by email from Sean Ireland at [email protected].
Georgia Press Educational Foundation ’25-26 Applications Due March 1.
Students:
To apply for a scholarship from GPEF for the 2025-26 academic year, please complete an application and return it to [email protected] by March 1. Click here for a scholarship application: Scholarship App 2025-26
To apply for an eight-week internship at a Georgia newspaper with funding provided by GPEF for the summer of 2025, please complete an application and return it to [email protected] by March 1. Students interested in internships with a specific newspaper should contact that newspaper to make sure that the newspaper is participating in the internship program. Grants are awarded to newspapers, and the newspapers are responsible for hiring interns.
Click here for a student internship application, which will be forwarded to all newspapers receiving internship grants: StudentInternAppFillable2025NA
Newspapers:
To apply for a grant to hire an intern for eight weeks in the summer of 2025, please complete an application and return it to [email protected] by March 1. Click here for a newspaper host internship application: InternshipHostApp2025FillableForm
Georgia Press Educational Foundation Scholarships
Otis A. Brumby Jr. Community Newspaper Scholarship: Established in 2012, this scholarship is awarded annually to a college junior or senior majoring in print journalism. Priority will be given to applicants from Cobb County. The Brumby Community Scholarship is named in honor of Otis A. Brumby Jr., longtime publisher of the Marietta Daily Journal, Neighbor Newspapers and The Cherokee Tribune, a past president of the Georgia Press Association, a frequent winner of GPA and AP Freedom of Information Awards and the first recipient of the David E. Hudson Open Government Award.
Durwood McAlister Scholarship: Established in 1992 by The Atlanta Journal, this scholarship is awarded annually to an outstanding student majoring in print journalism at a Georgia college or university. The McAlister Scholarship is named in memory of Durwood McAlister, former editor of The Atlanta Journal.
Morris Newspaper Corporation Scholarship: Established in 1987 by Charles Morris, Morris Newspaper Corp., Savannah, this scholarship is awarded annually to an outstanding print journalism student. Recipients are named by the Foundation.
William C. Rogers Scholarship: This scholarship was established in memory of William Curran Rogers Sr., who was editor and publisher of the Swainsboro Forest-Blade for more than 30 years. During his career, he served as president of Georgia Press Association, president of National Newspaper Association and president of National Newspaper Representatives. This scholarship is granted by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation to students of the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Georgia.
* Honor scholarships are administered by the foundation at the request of individuals and organizations. Honor scholarships do not necessarily carry the same requirements as the foundation’s regular scholarships.
The deadline to apply for a GPEF scholarship is March 30. Download an application by clicking on the button is the left column of this page.
Billy Watson Internship Program Applications
Since 1994, GPEF has provided more than 150 Georgia newspapers grants to hire a paid summer intern through the Billy Watson Internship Program.
Today, the program continues to offer eight-week internship grants to newspapers to hire students interested in any phase of newspaper production, including advertising, editorial, circulation/marketing, online publishing and pre-press production.
The internship program provides students with actual newspaper experience while reinforcing their scholastic training with a goal of convincing interns to pursue a career in the newspaper industry. Most interns credit the program with giving them a perspective of the newspaper business that they could not have gleaned from the classroom alone.
Internships are awarded to publications that are members of Georgia Press Association. Newspapers that are awarded internship grants are responsible for the hiring of student interns and may choose from their own candidates or from candidates applying for internships through Georgia Press Educational Foundation.
Newspapers:
Could your newspaper use an internship grant next summer? Plan for it now. Recruit potential interns at your local college or high school and encourage students to check out the program. Return 2025 applications by March 1. Download application by clicking on the appropriate button to the left.
Students:
Students interested in internships with a specific newspaper should contact that newspaper to make sure that they are participating in the internship program. Grants are awarded to newspapers, and the newspapers are responsible for hiring interns. Student internship applications are circulated to all newspapers awarded grants. Interested students should submit an application by March 1 to Sean Ireland at [email protected]. Download application by clicking on the appropriate button to the left.
Questions? Contact Sean Ireland at 770-454-6776 or [email protected].