The Robert and Rhoda Amon Memorial Scholarship rewards an outstanding junior or senior majoring in journalism who has demonstrated a commitment to journalism, writes well in print or online, excels in class, and demonstrates a financial need for the scholarship. The winner of the Amon Memorial Scholarship will receive an award to be applied towards tuition at Stony Brook University. This scholarship honors the memory of Robert and Rhoda Amon, journalists who lived in Port Washington.

He was also a maritime historian who had worked as a press aide to New York City Mayor Beame. He died in 1992. She was a reporter for Newsday for 42 years, chronicling social trends and writing about the lives of ordinary people. She was among a group of women who fought for equal treatment at Newsday, a fight that led to a federal discrimination lawsuit that changed Newsday’s hiring practices. Rhoda Amon wrote her last story for Newsday in 2008, a week before she died of breast cancer at age 85.

Criteria

• Journalism major
• Full-time junior or senior
• 3.0 GPA, minimum
• Unmet financial need, as demonstrated by the FAFSA

Journalists Harvey Aronson and Irene Virag endowed this scholarship in 2013 to inspire students to recognize and respect the special place narrative writing has in the world of journalism and to nurture their writing and storytelling talents. It is awarded to a junior or senior journalism major or minor who excels in long-form narrative writing and who shows exceptional talent, dedication, and promise. The winner will receive an award toward tuition at Stony Brook University. Graduating seniors also are eligible for this award. Aronson and Virag taught in the School of Communication and Journalism from its founding in 2006 until Aronson's retirement in 2018. Virag continues to teach and serves as the SoCJ's associate dean and director of undergraduate programs.

The couple met and married while working at Newsday. They worked together – as journalists at Newsday and educators at Stony Brook – for almost 40 years. Aronson was a feature writer, copy desk chief, columnist, senior editor and writing coach, and Virag was a feature writer, garden columnist r and Home and Garden Editor. 

Aronson – who died in 2025 – was the author of seven books, both fiction and nonfiction, including bestsellers. He edited five Newsday books, including the paper’s tribute to those who died on 9/11 and the hardcover version of its award-winning 273-part history series, “Long Island: Our Story.” He shepherded a package on the Baby Jane Doe case that was the centerpiece of Newsday’s 1986 Pulitzer Prize for local reporting. 

Virag was a member of the Pulitzer-winning team that covered the political and medical struggle over the treatment of the Long Island infant with spina bifida. She is also a two-time Pulitzer finalist. Both Aronson and Virag have written for a range of magazines. Aronson was inducted into the Long Island Journalism Hall of Fame in 2018; Virag was inducted in 2023.

Criteria

• Junior or senior, including graduating senior
• Journalism major or minor
• Full-time student
• 2.0 GPA, minimum

The Catherine M. Ayscue Endowed Memorial Scholarship recognizes and provides financial assistance to a student from the Stony Brook University School of Communication and Journalism. The scholarship honors Catherine M. Ayscue, a prolific writer and lover of the arts.

Catherine was managing editor of the university’s literary magazine, Spoke The Thunder, a newscaster at the campus radio station WUSB, and worked with SBU artist-in-residence Francisco Donoso. She was named an Undergraduate College Fellow, serving as a peer mentor as a Residence Assistant, and participated in the 2014 Journalism Without Walls trip to Beijing, China. Stony Brook was her first choice of colleges to attend; she often spoke about how much she loved the University, her experiences, and the friends she made. Catherine Ayscue passed away in 2015. 

Criteria

• Journalism major or minor
• Full-time student status
• 3.0 GPA, minimum
• Unmet financial need, as demonstrated by the FAFSA

Preference will be given to students participating in Journalism Without Walls, if a trip is planned.

Former Stony Brook Senior Vice President of Administration Barbara Chernow and her husband, William Farber, pledged $25,000 in 2013 to establish the Carol Chernow Memorial Scholarship in Journalism. The gift endows a scholarship to support the development of young writers - a lifelong goal of the late Carol Chernow's professional career.

The Chernow scholarship is available to a qualifying full-time student enrolled in the School of Communication and Journalism at Stony Brook University. The recipient must demonstrate a desire to pursue a career in journalism with a demonstrated talent and interest in writing and language. Carol Chernow, mother of former SBU Senior Vice President Chernow, was a Brooklyn-born New Yorker, educated at Brooklyn College, who taught several subjects and grade levels in New York City public schools in Brooklyn and Staten Island. Along with her husband, Fred Chernow – a New York City school principal, administrator, author and motivational speaker – Carol Chernow wrote several books on classroom teaching procedures and discipline, some of which remain in use today. However, it was literature, writing, and teaching effective communication to a diverse group of children and adults that became her eventual focus and passion.

Chernow believed that one powerful way to open doors and promote equal opportunity was to equip all individuals with better language skills. Beginning in 1963 with the publication of “Reading Exercises in Black History,” she turned her energies to teaching and creating practical educational resources for individuals in various communities. She held that race, ethnic background, economic status, birth language or prior educational experience must not be barriers to learning effective communication in English. Chernow realized that those differences offered educators the opportunity to create and use innovative material targeted at developing better language skills, reaching and engaging more students.

“My mother believed that effective communication skills – whether through the spoken word or on paper – were the first, best tools for anyone wishing to be successful in today’s world,” recalled Senior Vice President Chernow. “She said that people judge you on how well you speak and how well you write. This was the basis of her approach to teaching, and you could call it her affirmative action plan for her students.”

Criteria

• Journalism major
• Full-time junior or senior
• 3.0 GPA, minimum
• Unmet financial need, as demonstrated by the FAFSA

This scholarship supports tuition only.

The Daniel Conway Memorial Scholarship rewards a full-time journalism major who has a distinguished record in audio and/or broadcast journalism. Dan Conway was a natural storyteller. Although he was not a reporter, he was married to one, and some of it rubbed off on him.

He developed an uncanny knack for getting people to talk about themselves and made people feel at ease by using humor and warmth. His widow, veteran journalist Connie Conway, said he believed humor was a disarming quality that good reporters should strive for. This scholarship will go to an outstanding broadcast reporter who shows excellence in feature/humor reporting or business reporting –  yes business, although, as Connie has pointed out, it’s sometimes hard to find the humor in that. But Dan was a business major in college, and throughout his life he worked in business, and he often used his humor to seal the deal.

Criteria

• Full-time journalism major
• 2.8 GPA, minimum
• Distinguished work in audio/broadcast journalism

Preference will be given for feature, humor or business reporting.

The Matthew T. Crosson Memorial Scholarship Fund was established in 2013 by his wife Elaine and their son Daniel Crosson to honor Matthew Crosson’s values and ideals. A dedicated advocate for the public good, Crosson exemplified the shared purpose of journalists and public servants: to reveal the truth about important issues to solve problems and improve lives. He wasn't content to only identify problems; he was driven to find meaningful solutions.

The scholarship provides support to undergraduate students in the SoCJ who are committed to advancing public affairs through ethical, respectful, and fact-based communication. Key contributors to the fund include Jim and Marilyn Simons, the Simons Foundation, and Crosson family and friends.

Crosson served as President of the Long Island Association (LIA) for 16 years and as Chief Executive Officer of the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce. He was host of several Long Island public affairs television programs, including the award-winning “Cutting Edge” and “TV 55 Focus.” 

Crosson passed away unexpectedly in 2010, leaving a legacy of service and dedication. His widow, Elaine, who served for many years as Vice President for External Relations at Stony Brook University, established this scholarship with her son to honor Matthew’s commitment to public service.

Criteria 

• Junior or senior in a major program housed in the School of Communication & Journalism
• Demonstrate a high academic and professional desire to pursue a career in journalism, communication or media with a demonstrated interest in public affairs and ethical, respectful, fact-based communication
• Unmet financial need, as demonstrated by the FAFSA
• 3.0 GPA, minimum

George L. DeWan was an esteemed journalist who retired from Newsday in 2001 after 44 years of reporting on poverty, minority affairs, banking, gardening and, most notably, the history series, "Long Island: Our Story." 

He died in 2014 at age 80. He was a passionate and meticulous reporter, with a love of history and language. He wrote more than 60 stories in the 273-day Long Island history project, which ran from September 1997 to June 1998, and spawned several books, a classroom curriculum, and other media projects.

Criteria 

• Entering sophomore or junior (U2 or U3) year
• Journalism major or minor
• Demonstrates critical thinking, outstanding narrative writing ability, and who is adept at making complex issues accessible to all audiences
• Full-time student
• 3.0 minimum GPA

The Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting was established to cultivate and develop the next generation of international reporters.

Journalism Without Walls is a program aimed at offering journalism students hands-on, immersive experiences in international reporting. The program includes traveling to other countries to cover stories, engage with local communities, and gain a broader, global perspective on journalism. The Journalism Without Walls Scholarship will help fund student participation in this international reporting trip.

Criteria 

• Entering sophomore or junior (U2 or U3) year
• Journalism major or minor
• Demonstrates critical thinking, outstanding narrative writing ability, and who is adept at making
• complex issues accessible to all audiences
• Full-time student
• 3.0 minimum GPA

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 Communication and Journalism and who demonstrates great potential to succeed as a professional journalist upon graduation.

The scholarship is made possible by the generosity of the Klurfeld family. Professor James Klurfeld was a member of the School of Journalism faculty, a Newsday columnist and a former editorial page editor at Newsday.

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.

Criteria 

• Journalism major entering their senior (U4) year
• 3.0 minimum GPA
• Journalism experience beyond the classroom (internship, campus media)

This scholarship was endowed in 2015 by Marcy McGinnis, an accomplished broadcast news journalist and executive and the founding associate dean of Stony Brook University’s School of Communication and Journalism. It should inspire students to recognize and respect the special place broadcast writing, reporting, and producing has in the work of journalism and to nurture their visual storytelling talents.

Selection will be based on a body of work that demonstrates dedication and excellence in broadcast journalism in the areas of reporting, writing, producing, shooting and editing video, and on-air performance for class and special projects. Video work produced in related on- or off-campus programs sponsored by the School of Communication and Journalism may be considered as well as internships at broadcast news outlets and extracurricular work in the School’s newsroom, studio and control room.

Marcy McGinnis started her career at CBS News in 1970 as a secretary in the Special Events Unit and rose to fill several key executive roles, including senior vice president of news coverage from 1997-2005. In that role, McGinnis managed the network’s worldwide news gathering and news coverage operation. She was at the helm of the network’s coverage of the attacks of September 11th, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Hurricane Katrina.

After Stony Brook, McGinnis returned to broadcast news to help start Al Jazeera America.

Over the course of her career, McGinnis received numerous journalism honors, including three national Emmy Awards for news coverage of Princess Diana’s death, selection to serve a three-year term as a judge for the prestigious Alfred I. DuPont Columbia University Awards, and selection as a judge for the Overseas Press Club Excellence Awards and the Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholarship Awards. She was awarded honorary doctorate degrees from Marymount University (2005) and from Hofstra University’s School of Communication (2002). Having graduated from Marymount College of Virginia in 1970 with an associate degree, she was proud to earn her bachelor’s degree in History from the State University of New York in 2009. 

Criteria

• Full-time student status
• Journalism major or minor, including graduating seniors
• High academic achievement

This scholarship supports tuition only.

The Michael S. Rosenbaum Memorial Scholarship provides funds to help a student to gain experience in international reporting as part of the Journalism Without Walls program. This program has sent many students on international reporting trips, typically scheduled in the summer semesters. This scholarship is created to honor the memory, values, and ideals of Michael Rosenbaum, who believed deeply in an informed public, and a free international press. The scholarship is designed to support young journalists who embody those ideals as demonstrated through their work and career goals.

Criteria 

• Full-time student status
• 2.8 minimum GPA
• Unmet financial need, as demonstrated by the FAFSA
• Student in the School of Communication and Journalism
• Be enrolled in the Journalism Without Walls Trip

Candidate must indicate interest in international reporting.

The Paul A. Schreiber scholarship aims to encourage and reward an outstanding student journalist.  Criteria include excellence in reporting, writing, and multimedia skills; leadership; desire to pursue a career in journalism; and being in good academic standing. Internship and extracurricular journalism work may be considered as well as demonstrated leadership qualities as an editor, news director or producer.

Paul Schreiber, the School of Communication and Journalism’s founding Undergraduate Director, was a journalist and teacher who brought newsroom reality into the classroom. As a reporter and columnist during his 33 years at Newsday, Schreiber wrote about thousands of interesting people. As an editor, he oversaw the work of staff and freelance journalists throughout the world. As a long-time instructor at Stony Brook University, he helped student journalists learn how to report and write clearly and effectively.

After graduating from the University of Miami, Schreiber was hired as a reporter by the Miami Herald. Schreiber joined Newsday in 1968 as a general assignment reporter. As Newsday grew, he became a national desk reporter, copy editor, assistant national editor, night national editor, day national editor, chief of the copy desk, editorial writer, news editor and business columnist. In his last role at Newsday, Schreiber wrote more than 500 columns giving readers an inside look at people “Doing Business.”

Between 1987 and 2000, Schreiber taught feature journalism at Stony Brook and was director of the journalism minor. In 2002, the Press Club of Long Island named him “Outstanding Long Island Journalist.”

He returned to Stony Brook in 2004.

He co-founded the School and co-created its news literacy program, taught and advised journalism students. He helped secure ACEJMC accreditation in 2015. In 2014, he was inducted into the Press Club of Long Island’s Journalism Hall of Fame. He retired in 2017.

Criteria 

• Rising junior or senior journalism major
• Full-time student status
• Unmet financial need, as demonstrated by the FAFSA
• Demonstrated excellence in reporting, writing, and multimedia
• Demonstrated leadership qualities as an editor, news director, or producer in terms of editorial
• policies, activities, and impact
• 2.5 minimum GPA

This scholarship supports tuition only.

The Martin Buskin Awards for Outstanding Campus Journalism are presented to student journalists whose work demonstrates a commitment to excellence through leadership in campus journalism, outstanding work, and/or impact on the Stony Brook community.

There is one overall award for eligible juniors and seniors. It comes with a $1,000 award. A Cub Journalist of the Year recognition comes with a $250 award.

Application requirements include a nominating letter, personal statement, resume, and samples of work. In addition, descriptions of submitted work must be included in one document and uploaded via the submission form by the stated deadline.

You may enter one or more of the following categories: Articles, Video Journalism, Audio Journalism, News Photography, Graphics/Illustration and Leadership.

Submit an application for the Buskin Award for Campus Journalism.