Scholarships

JEA Journalist of the Year

Texas high school journalists may apply for Texas Journalist of the Year (JOY). Learn more about the process of applying for this contest on our Journalist of the Year page. The winner of JOY will advance to the national JEA Journalist of the Year Contest. Deadline: Feb. 15

Balfour Publishing sponsors the $1,500 Bill Taylor Memorial Scholarship which will be awarded to the Texas Journalist of the Year. Along with his brothers, Bill Taylor is credited with introducing offset lithography to yearbooks in 1939, allowing Taylor Publishing (later Balfour) to begin producing affordable, top-quality yearbooks for schools across the country. Bill Taylor served as Balfour’s longtime president before his retirement.

Student Workshop Scholarship

TAJE awards up to six $150 scholarships to summer workshops for students. Deadline: Feb. 15

Adviser Workshop Scholarship

TAJE awards $250 scholarships to summer workshops for current members. Advisers may choose any summer journalism workshop. Deadline: Feb. 15

TAJE Scholarship

High school seniors in journalism programs can apply for $1,000 TAJE college scholarships. Four scholarships will be awarded in 2025. Deadline: Feb. 15

Seniors who wish to apply for one of the TAJE Scholarships as well as JOY must submit applications for both.

All advisers of applicants must be current TAJE members.

When a student completes the TAJE Scholarships application, they are applying for one of these scholarships:

Jim Davidson Memorial Scholarship

Former Lake Highlands HS students of Jim Davidson remember him as “the type of teacher that, 25 years after his death, former students still credit for their careers and consider when facing a problem,” wrote Elissa Chudwin in the Lake Highlands “Advocate” in 2018.

“A big man in size, he had the heart of a lion, the ego of a koala bear and a soft Southern accent as sweet as Karo syrup. He was an extraordinary teacher and adviser,” Bobby Hawthorne said. “Several generations of Dallas-area journalism instructors were gently guided by his knowledge and wisdom. For several years, he directed the National School Yearbook/Newspaper Association, based at Texas Tech University.”

Bobby Hawthorne Scholarship

Bobby Hawthorne is one of the national leaders in teaching scholastic journalists how to write. He was the director of the Interscholastic League Press Conference for 20 years and is the author of several books used in journalism classrooms. TAJE established this scholarship to honor his retirement.

“As a publications adviser, I appreciated the leadership and support that Bobby provided for my fellow teachers,” longtime journalism teacher and TAJE Texas Treasure Mary Pulliam said. “He was always only a phone call away for advice on how to handle sensitive issues or to write letters supporting freedom of the press. His best-selling textbook “The Radical Write” is a must-read for journalism students and a go-to for yearbook and newspaper advisers. A popular convention speaker and workshop instructor, Bobby entertains students with his humor while teaching them how to become writers and storytellers. Professional journalists still use the lessons they learned from Bobby when they were in high school. I can think of no one more deserving of having a scholastic journalism scholarship named after them than Bobby Hawthorne.”

Julia Jeffress Memorial Scholarship

Julia Jeffress taught journalism and advised publications at Hillcrest HS from the mid-60s to the mid-80s. She taught scores of students who went on to careers in professional media.

“Though I never met Julia Jeffress, after teaching in her room for 14 years I feel as though I had,” said Dow Tate, who later taught at Hillcrest HS before moving to Shawnee Mission East HS (KS). “Through the massive five-inch, three-ring binder of handouts she left me, I saw the intense knowledge of her subject that she had and used to produce one of the best high school journalism programs in the state. The legends and echoes of her teachings and passion for student-driven publications still serve me well 30 years later. Her commitment to journalism and people made her a role model that I could only strive to match.”

DeWitt C. Reddick Memorial Scholarship

The first dean of the College of Communication at the University of Texas, DeWitt Carter Reddick also was director of the School of Journalism from 1959 to 1965, teaching thousands of journalism students, including Walter Cronkite, Lady Bird Johnson, Ben Sargent and Karen Elliott House, from 1927 until his retirement in 1975.

“Dr. DeWitt C. Reddick was a beloved journalism professor who co-founded ILPC with Edith Fox King,” Bobby Hawthorne said. “For years, he directed it through the UT Department of Journalism out of a sense of duty to the high school teachers who sent to him their finest students. He did so without ever receiving a dime for his efforts. He was gentle, sweet and kind. He went out of his way to mentor me when he was old and ill, and I was not even a blip on anyone’s radar screen.”