Sacramento Press Club Scholarships
Since 1974, the Sacramento Press Club has offered scholarships to students who are preparing for a journalism career. This year, we are offering five scholarships totaling $17,500. They continue to be among the largest journalism awards in Northern California. We will select one student for each of the following scholarships:
- $6,000 in honor of the late Earl "Squire" Behrens, a former political editor of the San Francisco Chronicle who covered the state Capitol for a half-century.
- $4,000 in honor of Jean Stephens, the long-time Secretary-Treasurer of the Sacramento Press Club and a retired Sacramento City College journalism instructor who helped thousands of journalism students become professional journalists over a 30-year career.
- $2,500 in honor of the late Jerry Gillam, a 35-year veteran of the Capitol press corps. He is remembered for his knowledgeable political reporting in the Los Angeles Times' Sacramento bureau, his friendly mentoring of new Capitol reporters and his larger-than-life sense of humor.
- $2,500 in honor of the late Stan Gilliam, a former columnist with the Sacramento Bee. A veteran journalist, Gilliam wrote "Stan's Sacramento", a popular daily column that celebrated everyday Sacramento residents. He also spent 17 years as a high school teacher. About his own work, he told a reporter, "You could say that I never wrote for my editors, but for my readers".
- $2,500 in honor of Frank McCulloch, a former top news executive at Time Inc., the L.A. Times, Sacramento Bee and San Francisco Examiner. He is celebrated for his courage in covering Vietnam for Time Magazine, and challenging Kennedy family ties to the mob. As a manager he transformed newsrooms, and his legal fights against libel actions established precedents that still protect journalists. His support and mentoring of young journalists is legendary.