Herman Klurfeld Memorial Scholarship
for
Oustanding Junior Journalism Major

The purpose of the Herman Klurfeld Memorial Scholarship is to identify and reward an outstanding junior journalism major, one who best represents the goals and mission of the School of Journalism and who demonstrates great potential to succeed as a professional journalist upon graduation. The scholarship winner will receive $2,500 to be applied towards tuition at Stony Brook University for the fall semester of his or her senior year. Junior journalism majors may apply for the scholarship by submitting an application to the journalism office in the spring. A scholarship committee recommend one finalist for the Dean's approval.

Documents
Application
Essay

Information

The criteria used to select the student are as follows:

• Students must be entering their U4 year in September and have a minimum GPA in the journalism major of 3.0
• Candidates must demonstrate journalistic excellence through examples of their work.
• The candidate must have some experience in journalism outside the classroom, such as internships or involvement in campus media outlets.
• The candidate must demonstrate a passion for and commitment to the ethical practice of journalism and a commitment to succeeding as a professional journalist.

Each candidate should submit to the committee a portfolio containing the following:

• A copy of his or her transcript
• Three examples of outstanding journalistic work in any medium. Students may submit work done for class or for any outside news outlet.
• The names of and contact information for two academic or professional references. The student must obtain the references' permission. Members of the selection committee (staff member Elizabeth Farley and Professors Charlie Haddad, Rick Ricioppo and Barbara Selvin) may not provide references
• Two statements:
• One statement will detail the student's professional goals and aspirations and how he or she expects to build on the journalistic foundations developed at Stony Brook in today's journalism industry (250 words)
• Applicants will be provided with an ethical problem drawn from a journalist's true experience. The applicant will be required to weigh both sides of the issue, to recommend a course of action, and to justify his or her decision (250 words)

Herman Klurfeld

For more than two decades Herman Klurfeld was one of the most influential newspapermen in America, although his name was largely invisible to the public.

Klurfeld was the chief writer for Walter Winchell, whose column appeared in more than 2,000 newspapers in the 1930s and 1940s and whose Sunday radio broadcast was heard by millions of Americans. In his role as Winchell's assistant, Klurfeld wrote several columns a week peppered with items ranging from the colorful exploits of Broadway personalities to the emerging threat of Adolph Hitler. He later wrote biographies of Winchell and journalist Drew Pearson.

Long into his eighties, Herman Klurfeld was still a compelling storyteller, regaling friends, family and visitors with his accounts of the famous, the powerful and of the power of words. Herman's son, Professor James Klurfeld, is a member of the faculty, a Newsday columnist and a former editorial page editor at Newsday. The Herman Klurfeld Memorial Scholarship was made possible by the generosity of the Klurfeld family.