Laurence Washington Memorial Journalism Scholarship

Purpose:
The Fund is established to celebrate the life, journalism career, and teaching legacy of Laurence Washington. Laurence was an important part of the Journalism and Media Production Department, serving as a member of the MSU Denver journalism affiliate faculty for twenty-seven years while also advising students working at Student Media. Laurence guided and mentored many students toward careers in journalism and cared deeply about his work in teaching and journalism.

Laurence’s legacy spans beyond his work at MSU Denver. He worked as a reporter for Colorado daily newspapers such as the Daily Camera in Boulder and the Fort Collins Coloradoan, and his writing also appeared in the Rocky Mountain News, The Denver Post, the Denver Business Journal, the Aurora Sentinel (now Sentinel Colorado) and Stitches magazine. He served as managing editor of the Denver Urban Spectrum and as a book reviewer for BlueInk Review. He self-published at least two books, founded and managed Blackflix.com, an online publication celebrating Black films, and ran a website for his students called the Metro Post-Telegraph.

This scholarship is established in Laurence Washington’s memory to support the next generation of potential journalists who have demonstrated a combination of hard work and integrity.

Criteria
The scholarship recipient shall:
• Be meeting the University’s Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) requirements and cannot be in default or owe any refund/repayment of federal, state or institutional aid.
• Be a freshman or sophomore
• Have a declared major in journalism
• Not be a prior recipient of the Laurence Washington Memorial Journalism Scholarship
• Upload one letter of recommendation. The letter could be from a former teacher, mentor, boss, coach, or other person who can describe why the applicant is worthy of this scholarship.
• Write an essay responding to the guidance listed below. The essay length should be no more than 300 words. Guidance on the subject matter may be changed by the Donor. Provide some insight into why you are majoring in the field of journalism.
Also, explain what integrity means to you, citing specific examples of how you have demonstrated your own integrity, and what hard work means to you, citing specific examples of how you have demonstrated your own hard work.

There is a preference, but not an absolute requirement, for students to have a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
The scholarship is not renewable.
In so far as funding is available, it is the Donor’s intent to award at minimum a $5,000 scholarship per school year.