Agnes Cooke Scholarship applications due May 24

Virginia Press Women, a diverse organization of professional communicators who are women and men, and the Virginia Press Women Foundation are proud to offer a $550 scholarship to a deserving Virginia college student interested in pursuing a career in communications.

The Agnes Cooke Scholarship competition is open to any Virginia college student or to any Virginia resident attending an out-of-state college. Scholarship applicants must be planning a career in journalism, photojournalism, public relations or another related communications field.  Applicants do not have to be enrolled in a journalism or public relations degree program to qualify, but strong evidence of a commitment to the field of communications is essential.

The scholarship competition is open to female and male students and to undergraduate and graduate students. Members of Virginia Press Women receive additional consideration.

Applications for the 2013 awards are due Friday, May 24, 2013. The scholarship money will be available for the fall 2013 semester. 

The 2013 application form is available to download at the bottom of this page in MS Word. Along with a completed scholarship form, applicants are asked to submit the following:

Three (3) samples of your work

A resume
A letter of recommendation

Please send completed applications to: 

Cathy Jett

The Free Lance-Star
616 Amelia St.
Fredericksburg, VA  22401

If you have any questions,  email cjett@freelancestar.com or call 540-374-5407.

About Virginia Press Women and the Agnes Cooke Scholarship:

Virginia Press Women was founded in 1958 and is an affiliate of the National Federation of Press Women. The annual scholarship is named in honor of Agnes Cooke of Kinsale, Va., who was a charter member of the organization and served as president from 1964 to 1966. She was well-known in the Northern Neck for the columns she wrote for 25 years chronicling the everyday events in her community. VPW created the foundation that now administers the scholarship in 1992.

If you would like to donate to the scholarship fund:

Please consider donating now whatever you can afford. You may send a check to the Foundation Treasurer, Pam Stallsmith, 6532 W. Franklin St., Richmond, VA 23226-3045.