The Ruth Ashton Taylor
Academic Scholarship
The Good News Foundation is awarding a $5,000 academic scholarship—as well as a mentor—to an exceptional students who demonstrates she not only has the desire to become a television journalist, but the determination to uphold the standards set forth by the profession.
2007 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENT – JEN ISO
What makes this Scholarship so unique?
The Ruth Ashton Taylor Academic Scholarship Award is unique in many ways. First, and foremost, it carries the namesake of a true pioneer in broadcast journalism—a woman who paved the way for others to follow. Secondly, this scholarship is awarded by the women of Los Angeles television news, a powerful network of journalists committed to delivering news and information on a daily basis in the second largest television market in the United States. Furthermore, this scholarship offers more than just financial assistance—each recipient will have access to an assigned mentor, a woman, currently working on-air as a reporter and/or anchor in Los Angeles, who is willing to donate her time and talents to offer career advice, tape critiques, and ‘inside’ information scholarship winners will find helpful in landing their first on-air job!
Who is Ruth Ashton Taylor?
Ruth Ashton Taylor is a broadcast journalism pioneer. Her journalism career began in 1944, when she graduated from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism with a master’s degree and was hired immediately by CBS. In the era of Edward R. Murrow, Ruth Ashton was at the center of CBS radio's most notable decade. In 1951, she returned to her hometown of Los Angeles to take a job at KNXT-TV (now KCBS-TV), and became the first woman on the West Coast to work on the air in television news. She was hired for the "woman's angle" report—a requirement she reasoned was not restrictive because women were interested in the same subjects that interested men. She retired from KCBS some four decades later, after covering nearly every story imaginable. Along the way she received the Diamond Achievement Award from Women in Communications, the Governors Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and even has her own star of the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Who is eligible to apply for The Good News Foundation’s
Ruth Ashton Taylor Academic Scholarship Award?
Any female student who has completed at least one year of college and is currently enrolled at any fully accredited post-secondary institution within the Los Angeles television viewing market is eligible to apply. Applicants must demonstrate the desire to pursue a career in television broadcasting and the determination to uphold the professional standards of the industry. Preferential consideration will be given to those applicants who have already declared majors in either journalism or communications. Completed credited internships at television newsrooms are also encouraged and strongly recommended. Also, special consideration will be given to students who demonstrate financial need.
