The Bernard Kilgore Memorial Scholarship and New Jersey High School Journalist of the Year Award recognize an outstanding high school senior from New Jersey who demonstrates excellence in journalism. Sponsored by the New Jersey Press Foundation and the Garden State Scholastic Press Association (GSSPA), this prestigious award includes a $5,000 scholarship and the title of New Jersey High School Journalist of the Year. The scholarship recipient also qualifies to compete for the National High School Journalist of the Year award, presented by the Journalism Education Association.
Scholarship Details
- $5,000 scholarship, awarded by the NJPF.
- Recipient is named New Jersey High School Journalist of the Year and entered in the national competition.
Eligibility Criteria
- Graduating high school senior from a New Jersey high school.
- Must plan to study journalism or media studies.
- Must have a GPA of at least 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.
- Must have participated in high school journalism for at least two years.
- Students must be nominated by a teacher at a GSSPA-member school, or by an editor at a New Jersey Press Association member newspaper.
Application Process
- Confirm your eligibility and secure a nomination from a GSSPA-member teacher or NJ Press Association editor.
- Complete the application form for the Bernard Kilgore Memorial Scholarship.
- A panel of New Jersey newspaper editors will review applications and select the recipient.
Bernard Kilgore was the dominant figure at The Wall Street Journal and its parent corporation, Dow Jones and Co., Inc., for more than a quarter century. He was 59 years old when he died in 1967. By then, the Journal had grown from a small financial newspaper into the nation’s only national daily newspaper. In 2000, TJRF Group named him the Business Journalist of the Century.
The Bernard Kilgore Scholarship is possible because of gifts to the New Jersey Press Foundation from the Kilgore family and friends, The Princeton Packet, and the Dow Jones Foundation.