Aug. 30, 2006

The Associated Press Managing Editors organization will award three scholarships to editors of color to attend its annual conference in New Orleans in October.

The $1,100 scholarships are a part of the organization's continuing effort to increase participation in APME by editors of color who want to help the organization accomplish its goals, help improve diversity efforts in the industry and to rise to greater leadership positions.

Apply online here or click here to download an application in .PDF form. (Adobe Acrobat© required).

Calvin Stovall

"I am a poster child for the scholarship program, which we are re-launching," said Calvin Stovall, chairman of the APME Diversity Committee and executive editor of the Press & Sun-Bulletin in Binghamton, N.Y. "I received a scholarship to attend the 2000 conference in San Antonio. A few years later I was elected to the board and took on leadership of the diversity committee."

APME President Suki Dardarian said the scholarships are designed to help individual editors as well as the association itself. "Many of us have found that the more we give to this organization, the more we get back. We want the recipients to benefit from the great training, fellowship and inspiration APME offers. And we want our organization to benefit from their great ideas and contributions as well."

The scholarships to attend the conference Oct. 25-28 are sponsored by the Associated Press Managing Editors Association Foundation and the Freedom Forum, both of which are committed to helping improve diversity in the newspaper industry.

"We hope that individuals and other organizations join such groups as the APME Foundation and Freedom Forum in sponsoring scholarships for future conferences," Stovall said. "Participation in APME is an effective way of developing future leaders for one's own newspaper company and the industry."

The scholarships, which are available to editors who have never attended an APME conference, will be used to cover such expenses as registration, hotel and travel costs. Applicants must be at the rank of assistant managing editor or above and African-American, Asian or Pacific Islander, Hispanic or Native American.

Recipients will be announced in late September.