WOBURN, MA – Each year, the New England Newspaper and Press Association awards several scholarships to aspiring journalists through the Journalism Education Foundation of New England (JEFNE). The foundation aims to support and encourage young people who wish to pursue a career in journalism.

College students and high school seniors from New England who are studying and gaining work experience to prepare for a career in journalism are eligible to apply for JEFNE scholarships. This year, five students will receive $2,000 scholarships.

We are proud to introduce the recipients of the 2025 Journalism Scholarships:

Madeleine Goli Ahmadi, UNC-Chapel Hill
“I am honored to receive support from the JEFNE and the New England Newspaper & Press Association to continue pursuing my passion for journalism. Growing up in Vermont has shown me the importance of local media. Communities need people willing to share their stories – work that often begins in local high schools and universities. I am so grateful to my two favorite high school teachers who believe in this mission and are continuing to build journalists in Vermont, all my mentors at UNC-Chapel Hill who recognize the importance of innovative storytelling and the JEFNE who are generously supporting my mission to make a difference through impactful reporting.”

Cally Gudroe, University of New England
“I’m incredibly honored to receive the JEFNE Scholarship. Growing up in a rural town and tight-knit community, I saw firsthand how journalism can bring people together and how powerful it is when local stories are told with care and purpose. That early understanding shaped my commitment to sharing the voices and experiences that often go unheard. As a journalism student at the University of New England, I’ve reported for local news outlets on small businesses, school programs, and youth initiatives—stories that reflect the heart of a community. I’m also currently working on a documentary titled Rural Dreams, which focuses on rural teens and aims to empower their voices through storytelling. This scholarship allows me to continue doing the work I believe in by uplifting others, exploring underreported issues, and contributing to the future of local journalism. I’m deeply grateful to JEFNE and the New England Newspaper & Press Association for supporting my journey.”

Maren Halpin, Suffolk University
MacGregor Fiske Scholarship recipient
“Over the last three years of developing my skills as a journalist both in the classroom and student and professional newsrooms, I’ve gained such a deep passion for telling the stories and amplifying the voices of those in my community. At such a pivotal time, I am so honored to get to be part of such a talented and driven generation of journalists who are both defending a strong press and innovating what its future will look like. I am so grateful for this support from the Journalism Education Foundation of New England, the New England Newspaper and Press Association, and the Fiske family. I’ve been so lucky to have so much support from my family, friends, professors, mentors, and this industry at large, and this scholarship will further enable me to remain focused on my final year of my undergraduate degree and pursue more opportunities to learn in professional newsrooms across Boston and New England.”

The MacGregor Fiske Scholarship honors the late Mac Fiske, a fourth-generation newspaperman, who died in 2009 at the age of 75.

Jackson Kitts, Duke University
“The JEFNE scholarship will help me pursue my college education at Duke University. I plan to major in public policy and minor in journalism. I look forward to engaging more in the journalism community while in college through the Duke Chronicle and other opportunities.”

Emily Tarinelli, Stanford University
“I’m grateful to be one of JEFNE’s scholarship recipients. Next year, I will attend Stanford University and work towards my master’s degree in Journalism. JEFNE’s support will help me offset the cost of attendance. At Stanford, I intend to hone my skills in reporting stories about gender/LGBTQ+ issues and sports. After graduating in June 2026, I hope to return to New England and begin my professional journalism career.”

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About the Journalism Education Foundation of New England
The Journalism Education Foundation of New England encourages and supports high school seniors and college students in the six-state region who aspire to pursue a career in journalism. The JEFNE scholarship is available to New England residents studying journalism or related fields at the college level.

Member newspapers of the New England Newspaper & Press Association join in sponsoring the scholarship program by promoting it to readers in their communities.

For more information about the JEFNE scholarship program, please contact Linda Conway at l.conway@nenpa.com.

The Maine Community Foundation (MaineCF) announced Wednesday the launch of a new initiative to strengthen Maine communities by ensuring strong, local news coverage in all parts of the state. MaineCF applied and has been selected by the nonpartisan philanthropic initiative Press Forward to become one of 36 independent chapters nationwide.

Press Forward and Press Forward Maine share the goal of strengthening communities by reinvigorating local news. Press Forward Maine will be housed within MaineCF and led by Senior Advisor Lisa DeSisto, former CEO of Maine Today Media and the Maine Trust for Local News. The initial focus will be building a broad-based advisory panel to identify and prioritize the best ways to reimagine and expand access to local reporting.

“Our own research and the ‘Strengthening Maine’s Civic Life’ report we funded last year tell us two things,” said MaineCF CEO Deborah Ellwood. “One, most people in Maine are interested in reading and learning about their communities but, two, may encounter barriers for understanding how they can engage and participate locally. Press Forward Maine will bring people and resources together to close that gap because quality reporting means people can learn about any issue, understand how to get involved, have their voice heard and find solutions together. We are very pleased Lisa DeSisto is joining to help lead this effort as senior advisor and excited to get to work with our donors and partners.”

DeSisto, who also worked at the Boston Globe for 17 years before leading Maine’s largest media organization through many changes over 13 years, said, “I know all too well that these are changing times in the news business. This is important work and am glad to continue as senior advisor to Press Forward Maine. We are committed to contributing to a vibrant media ecosystem by partnering with large and small news organizations. As a nonprofit community foundation with a 42-year record of working in communities across all 16 Maine counties, Maine Community Foundation is the perfect institution to convene media partners and craft new models for collaboration and innovation to better engage with Maine people.”

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The Center for Community News at UVM annual benchmark study reveals significant growth in university-led reporting programs in 2025. Among the more than 200 news-academic programs across the country, 48 new ones have been initiated since the data was last collected in 2024.

“Colleges of every size are stepping up to help fill critical information gaps in their communities,” said CCN Director Richard Watts. “And their students are getting invaluable hands-on experience in the process.”

News-academic reporting programs have emerged as one viable solution to the crisis facing local news, and an opportunity for the next generation to engage with their communities. The Center for Community News at UVM is the only organization in the nation tracking the growth of this field and its potential to help reimagine a sustainable future for local journalism.

2025 was a big year for news-academic reporting programs. CCN found that public and Minority Serving Institutions are leading the pack. Other attributes of strong news-academic programs include the presence of experienced faculty-practitioners and statewide collaborations across colleges.

Here are a few key findings from the 2025 data:

• 172 colleges and universities in the U.S. have existing or emerging news-academic partnerships today.
• There are 227 total news-academic programs in existence or emerging (some schools now offer multiple programs).
• There are 48 emerging news-academic programs in 2025, a 27 percent increase over 2024.
• Minority Serving Institutions now run 40 news-academic reporting programs.
• 69 percent of news-academic reporting programs are at public institutions and 31 percent are at private institutions.

Learn more and read the full report

The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) has announced the 2025 Hall of Fame inductees and special honors recipients, recognizing influential figures who have made significant contributions to journalism. Among the honorees are two Boston-area journalism leaders: Callie Crossley and Gregory L. Moore.

Callie Crossley, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1988, is a member of the prestigious Academy of New England Journalists and a recipient of the Yankee Quill Award in 2019. She has made a lasting impact as a respected commentator, radio host, and advocate for media diversity. Her work on GBH and in broader journalism circles has elevated critical conversations about race, culture, and community.

Gregory L. Moore spent many years at The Boston Globe, rising through the ranks to become managing editor in 1994. During his tenure, he supervised coverage of major events such as the September 11 attacks and the Charles Stuart case. Moore’s leadership at the Globe set the stage for his subsequent role as editor of The Denver Post, where, during his tenure, The Denver Post won four Pulitzer Prizes.

Both will be honored during the #NABJ25 Convention & Career Fair in Cleveland, OH, Aug 6 – 10, 2025. The Hall of Fame Induction and Luncheon will be held on Friday, Aug. 8, at 12 PM EDT.

Read the full announcement from NABJ here to learn more about all of this year’s inductees and their remarkable careers.

Among this week’s Pulitzer Prize winners, the Local Reporting award, shared by the Baltimore Banner and the New York Times, showcased how data and collaboration fuel breakthrough journalism at scale. The broader collaboration behind this effort—documenting how the fentanyl crisis has disproportionately affected a generation of older Black men—included Stanford’s Big Local News and nine other news outlets across the country, from the Boston Globe to the San Francisco Standard. Each publication reported and ran stories that leveraged the same underlying data from the CDC, but with the proper context for each city.

The nature of this collaboration was one of the topics at last month’s Story Discovery at Scale convening at Stanford University, hosted by Big Local News. In its third year, the event brought together about 70 data journalists, product folks, academics and multi-hyphenates of local news. Over two days, they shared the latest best practices and worked on new ideas for tools, training and collaborative approaches to help newsrooms unlock stories, add context and increase output.

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