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:
- $8,000 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.
- $6,000 in honor of the late 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.
- $4,000 in honor of Sigrid Bathen, adjunct professor of communications and journalism at California State University, Sacramento. An award-winning journalist, she was a Sacramento Bee reporter for 13 years and has written for numerous publications, including the Los Angeles Times. She was press secretary to the state superintendent of public instruction and the state attorney general. She is most proud of the hundreds of students she has mentored, supported, taught and inspired in her teaching career.
- $4,000 in honor of A.G. Block, Associate Director of the University of California Center Sacramento. He created the UCCS journalism program with a goal of inspiring a new generation of political and public-affairs reporters and editors. For more than 20 years, he was an editor at the the California Journal magazine, and he's a current contributor to Capitol Weekly.
- $4,000 in honor of Lou Cannon, widely known for his many years as a syndicated columnist and White House correspondent for the Washington Post. He is considered the premier biographer of the late President Ronald Reagan, with five published biographies. He is now a freelance writer who lectures on the presidency, police issues, the media and California politics.
- $4,000 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.
- $4,000 for the Nereida Skelton Journalism Scholarship. Nereida was a beloved journalism teacher for more than three decades. She was the advisor to the McClatchy High School student newspaper, where she often worked long hours and served as a mentor to outstanding students. Her straightforward approach to news and politics also had influence across the nation, as her husband George called her his "secret editor" for his L.A. Times political column. Community college students who are transferring to a four year college will be given special consideration.