For Immediate Release:
March 6, 2017
Contact: Bruce Goldberg
303-369-4088
bgindenver@aol.com
DENVER — Six outstanding college journalists from Colorado will receive scholarships at the Denver Press Club’s 23rd annual Damon Runyon Awards Banquet on Friday, March 31, at the Denver Athletic Club.
The six students will be honored during the banquet along with David Simon, the Baltimore journalist and HBO producer who is the recipient of this year’s Damon Runyon Award.
The award is named after Runyon, a legendary journalist and member of the Denver Press Club in 1905-07 who went on to fame and glory in New York City as one of the best-read newspaper columnists of his era.
True to Runyon’s knack for narrative, the six college journalists were chosen because they displayed a talent for storytelling.
The winners are:
- Jillian Queri, Park City, UT, University of Denver
- Erin Douglas, Parker, CO, Colorado State University at Fort Collins
- David Schaut, Highlands Ranch, CO, Metropolitan State University of Denver
- Ellis Arnold, Aurora, CO, University of Colorado, Boulder
- Jacquiline Palizzi, Thornton, CO, University of Northern Colorado
- Ashleigh Hollowell, Woodland Park, CO, Colorado State University at Pueblo
Each student will receive $750 toward their tuition plus a ticket to the banquet and the VIP reception that precedes it. They also receive a one year membership to the Denver Press Club.
Douglas also was chosen for the Tim Russert scholarship as the overall winner among the six finalists. She will receive a total of $1,500 toward her tuition.
The scholarship recipients were among 24 students nominated by the journalism faculty at their schools.
This year’s Runyon judges includes:
Jerome Ryden, chairman of the scholarship committee, and fellow Club members Sara Crocker, Andrew Cohen, Dennis Huspeni, Nissa LaPoint and Neil Best.
Over the last 23 years, the Denver Press Club has awarded more than $130,000 in scholarship funds. Many of the recipients have gone on to careers in newsrooms ranging from Denver to Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and the Virgin Islands.
The Denver Press Club, the oldest press club in the nation, is celebrating its 150th birthday this year.
To interview the scholarship winners, please contact Jerome Ryden, 303-725-8501, home@ryden.com.
