High school seniors, apply for a journalism scholarship

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High school seniors from Doña Ana and Luna counties: If you’re interested in studying journalism in college, we have a scholarship to tell you about.

The Harold Cousland Fund For Young Journalists Scholarship is awarded to a graduating senior from one of those two counties who is enrolling in college and has an interest in journalism. The scholarship, which is for the 2013-2014 academic year, will be approximately $500-$600.

Applications are due by noon on April 4.

The scholarship is managed by the Community Foundation of Southern New Mexico, which also serves as New Mexico In Depth’s fiscal sponsor. NMID cannot accept anonymous contributions, but from time to time we receive an anonymous donation with no information on how to return it. In those cases, we have directed the money to the Cousland scholarship fund.

Last year, NMID directed $400 to the scholarship.

The scholarship is named after my former boss at the Las Cruces Sun-News. He was the newspaper’s editor until he died at age 58 on Sept. 21, 2011.

Harold’s 37-year career as a journalist also included working at the Deming Headlight and Graphic, the Santa Fe New Mexican, the Albuquerque Journal and the Arizona Republic.

I was a young reporter at the Sun-News on Sept. 11, 2001. Harold directed our coverage on that day, and in the next several days before his death, with a passion I’ll never forget. He believed in journalism’s role in not only informing the community, but also helping it make sense of the news.

Our staff spread out across Doña Ana County during those days to tell as many stories as we could about how our community was impacted by and making sense of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The importance of being on the ground in our communities was clear to me then; today, it is fundamental to NMID’s mission and vision.

In other words, Harold’s legacy is one worth emulating. We’re happy to help fund and promote a scholarship in his memory, and to help a high school student pay for college.

Good luck!

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