May 2 deadline for Stanford Chen internship grants

Summer internships are a great way to practice journalism and learn the ins and outs of newsrooms today. Problem is, many internships these days don’t pay — or they don’t pay enough for interns to cover their basic living expenses.

AAJA awards Stanford Chen internship grants to help defray those expenses. The grant provides $1,750 to a college student who is an intern at small- to medium-size media.

This year’s application deadline is May 2. Download an application at aaja.org.

Stanford Chen was a California-born city boy who was introduced to journalism by working on his high school newspaper at Oakland Tech. After graduating with a journalism degree from Indiana University, Stan’s professional career began at The Bellingham, Wash., Herald. From there he moved to the Daily Journal of Commerce, a business publication in Portland, Ore., as its editor before landing at The Oregonian, Oregon’s largest metropolitan daily. Stan could do anything journalistically, and he frequently was ahead of trends: At The Herald he wrote an environmental column, long before the environment became front-page news; he also was the paper’s sports editor, copy editor and photographer. At The Oregonian, he started as a part-time copy editor, soon was hired full time, doing night page makeup, then became deputy editor of the Forum editorial section before returning to his real love, reporting. He remained a reporter even after he was stricken with cancer. He died in 1999 at the age of 51.  (Source: AAJA)

Learn more about Stanford Chen at AAJA.org.