A student in last year’s Bakersfield College summer journalism workshop has won a $1,000 college scholarship from The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund for her story on a Holocaust survivor.
Ashley Owens, a Bakersfield High School senior, was one of six students in the nation to win the award from the Summer Workshops Writing and Photography competitions. The scholarships are awarded to top students who attended 2002 summer journalism workshops sponsored by The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund.
Owens’ story was written for the BC Summer Multicultural Journalism Workshop last summer, which published The Scoop, the workshop’s newspaper, following a free three-week crash course in journalism.
Sponsored by The Bakersfield Californian, The Dow Jones Newspaper Fund and BC, the workshop encourages high school students from all ethnic backgrounds to consider newspapers as a career.
Her story on 82-year-old Matilda Pardo described the Holocaust survivor’s experiences in Auschwitz. The story was nominated for the Dow college scholarship contest by Kathy Freeman, BC adviser and workshop director, because Owens handled the difficult assignment with “excellent use of quotes, detail and attention to accuracy.”
Owens also wrote an editorial on the experience of visiting the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles and learning about thousands of hate speech Web sites.
She said she aspires to be a journalist.
“I have always felt that it was my duty to expose unknown truths and to give others a voice by telling their stories,” she said.
As part of the program, Owens also was one of five top students to receive a $100 workshop scholarship for her promising work.
This year’s workshop once again will offer a total of $500 to the most promising students and nominate the top participants for the Dow Jones college scholarship competition. This year’s program will be offered at no charge from June 9-26 on the BC campus.
Students wishing to be part of the program can contact Freeman at 395-4344 or at [email protected]. for an application. Deadline for applications is May 5.
Along with working with Californian newspaper professionals, students will have the opportunity to work with George Ramos, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Ramos will spend a week with the students as a writing coach and mentor.
This will be the 18th year that Bakersfield College has offered the Summer Multicultural Journalism Workshop. The California Chicano News Media Association also will help sponsor the program this year.