2004 Douglas Myers Media Scholarship Winners

31 January 2005

Winners Named for 2004 Douglas Myers Media Scholarship

The Douglas Myers Media Scholarship 2004 will be jointly awarded to Patrick Crewdson, education reporter for the Herald on Sunday, and Kelly Sinoski, journalist with The Independent.

The scholarships, worth a combined total of $30,000, will allow Mr Crewdson and Ms Sinoski to research and prepare material on specific public policy issues. Mr Crewdson will study access to higher education in the United States and Canada. Ms Sinoski will travel to Europe and the United Kingdom to learn more about climate change. Both will take up their scholarships during 2005.

Judging panel convener Barry Soper, political editor of NewsTalkZB, said Mr Crewdson and Ms Sinoski were chosen as winners because of the importance of the subjects they wished to study, and the quality of their applications.

"This scholarship provides journalists in the early stages of their careers with a remarkable opportunity. I am sure both winners will tremendously enhance their understanding of issues that are very important to New Zealand", Mr Soper said.

Other judges were Karl du Fresne, editorial consultant; Suzanne Carty, editorial executive, Fairfax New Zealand; George Andrews, independent television producer; and Roger Kerr, executive director of the New Zealand Business Roundtable.

Mr Kerr said the Scholarship was established in 2002 to honour Douglas Myers' role as a former chairman of the organisation and his contributions to business and public affairs.

"The Scholarship is designed to improve the quality of debate on issues and ideas that need to be widely understood in New Zealand", Mr Kerr said.

The annual competition is open to print, radio and television journalists, researchers and producers. Previous winners were Kevin Taylor of the New Zealand Herald, Christine Nikiel of the National Business Review, Colin Espiner of the Christchurch Press, and Jane O'Loughlin of Radio New Zealand.

Entries will open for the 2005 Douglas Myers Media Scholarship in the second half of this year.

ENDS

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