Kimon de Greef
New York University
DAVID R. SCHWEISBERG MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
Sponsored by the Schweisberg Family; presented by David’s brother, Matthew Schweisberg

Kimon will travel to Guyana this summer to continue his reporting on finches, the tiny birds that have fueled a black-market business among Guyanese immigrants in New York City and elsewhere. In his essay, Kimon wrote about the Finch King, America’s only lawful importer. A native of South Africa, he has a master’s degree from the University of Cape Town and is the author of Poachers, about the illicit abalone trade. His podium remarks.


Jake Kincaid
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
REUTERS FELLOWSHIP
Sponsored by Reuters and presented by Tiffany Wu, Americas Editor, Reuters

Jake’s desire to become a foreign correspondent may have started in Tahrir Square, but it was honed during his year as a freelance journalist in Nicaragua and Colombia.  Fluent in Spanish, he wrote about human rights abuses among those captured or imprisoned for protesting Daniel Ortega’s government.  A veteran rock and ice climber, Jake is a graduate of the University of Colorado.  He has an OPC Foundation fellowship with Reuters in Mexico City. His podium remarks.


Juan Arredondo
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
HARPER’S MAGAZINE SCHOLARSHIP in memory of I.F. STONE
Endowed by John R. MacArthur and the Pierre F. Simon Charitable Trust; presented by Rick MacArthur, publisher, Harper’s Magazine

Growing up in Medellin during the drug wars in the 1990s, Juan knew firsthand the impact of violence and trauma. In his essay, he wrote about an activist in Colombia forced to flee her home amid the turmoil accompanying the country’s now faltering peace process. A former chemist and an experienced photojournalist, Juan, a former Neiman fellow at Harvard, is a graduate of Rutgers and has a master’s degree in organic chemistry from Carnegie Mellon. His podium remarks.


William Martin
New York University
IRENE CORBALLY KUHN SCHOLARSHIP
Endowed by the Scripps Howard Foundation; presented by Jack Howard-Potter of the Pamela Howard Family Foundation

As a documentarian, William has focused on social injustices experienced by vulnerable communities. In his video, he captured how climate change and environmental disasters had upended the lives of women in Malawi. In his essay, he wrote about how wildfires in the rain forest are endangering the Munduruku people, an indigenous tribe in Northern Brazil. This summer he’ll return to Brazil to film potential solutions to their plight. William also has an undergraduate degree from NYU. His podium remarks.


Kantaro Komiya
DePauw University
STAN SWINTON FELLOWSHIP
Endowed by the Swinton Family and presented by John Daniszewski, VP of AP and Editor-at-Large for Standards

Kantaro traveled from his native Japan to Indiana to study economics, the first step en route to becoming a business journalist with an expertise in technology, entrepreneurship and international political economy. He has had internships with Bloomberg in Tokyo and at the Japan Times. In his essay, he wrote about Japan’s booming business in pocket translators, fueled by Japan’s rapid increase in tourism. He has an OPC Foundation fellowship with the Associated Press in Tokyo. His podium remarks.


Marta Orosz
New York University
EMANUEL R. FREEDMAN SCHOLARSHIP
Endowed by family; presented by Alix Freedman, Manny’s daughter and Global Head, Ethics and Standards for Reuters

An award-winning investigative business journalist with an expertise in how tax laws offer loopholes for massive financial fraud, Marta wrote about two such schemes, their complexities and the problems that arise when authorities attempt to uncover or prosecute the cases. A graduate of ELTE University in Budapest, the Hungarian native, who began her career as a foreign correspondent in Germany, speaks five languages and specializes in cross-border investigations. Her podium remarks.


Sarah Trent
UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
ROY ROWAN SCHOLARSHIP
Endowed by family, friends and admirers; presented by Roy’s son, Marc Roy Rowan

An environmental reporter with an expertise in business, agriculture and economic development, Sarah wrote about how typhoons, over-fishing and climate change are threatening the livelihood of a fishing village in the Philippines. A graduate of the University of Southern Maine, she hopes to return to Asia, where she covered, among other stories, the cashmere supply chain in Mongolia. She has an OPC Foundation fellowship with the Wall Street Journal in Hong Kong. Her podium remarks.


Meg Bernhard
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
FLORA LEWIS FELLOWSHIP
Endowed by the Pierre F. Simon Charitable Trust and presented by former Flora Lewis winners, Amelia Nierenberg and Daphne Psaledakis

Meg intends to return to Spain this summer to report on renewed efforts by the current left-leaning Spanish government to exhume mass graves containing the bodies of tens of thousands executed during the Spanish Civil War. In her essay, Meg wrote about the bus caravans of Latin American immigrant women who travel from Madrid to the rural countryside in search of husbands. Fluent in Spanish, she graduated from Harvard. Her podium remarks.


Annie Todd
Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY
S&P GLOBAL AWARD FOR ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS REPORTING
Endowed by S&P Global and presented by John Piecuch, Head of Divisional Communications/S&P Global Ratings Communications

A journalism graduate of the University of Wyoming, Annie spent last summer in Bosnia and Herzegovina covering, among other stories, a memorial in Sarajevo for victims of the 1995 massacre. The event honored 33 men and boys whose bodies had recently been identified and were now being moved to the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial. Fluent in Italian and proficient in Spanish and French, Annie has an OPC Foundation fellowship with the Associated Press in Johannesburg. Her podium remarks.


Sandali Handagama
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
JERRY FLINT FELLOWSHIP FOR INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS REPORTING
Endowed by family and friends; presented by Kate McLeod, Jerry’s wife

Sandali has an expertise in the international waste trade and the waste management crisis that plagues so many South Asian countries, including her native Sri Lanka. In her essay, she wrote about how non-degradable waste left behind by eco-tourists in national wildlife parks in Sri Lanka threaten the exotic animals and the parks’ long-term sustainability. She is a graduate of the University of South Florida. Sandali has an OPC Foundation fellowship with Reuters in Mumbai.  Her podium remarks.


Meghan Sullivan
Stanford University
WALTER & BETSY CRONKITE SCHOLARSHIP
Funded by Daimler and Supported by CBS News and friends; presented by Kevin Tedesco, Executive Director, Communications, CBS News

After graduating from Stanford last spring, Meghan enrolled in a master’s program in engineering to strengthen her data journalism skills and to learn more about the intersection of technology and media. An Alaskan native, she wrote about climate change in the Arctic and the geopolitical consequences as both Russia and China develop long-term strategies for the region. A former NBC News intern, she speaks some Spanish and Italian. She has an OPC Foundation fellowship in the AP bureau in Bangkok. Her podium remarks.


Thomas Nocera
Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
NATHAN S. BIENSTOCK MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP
Endowed by the Richard Leibner and Carole Cooper Family Foundation; presented by Richard Leibner

Tom’s unorthodox path to journalism led through a construction site and was inspired by his own father’s passion for world affairs. As a freelancer in Bay Ridge Brooklyn, he met the owner of the area’s oldest hookah café. In his essay, he wrote how the Lebanese native, serving a multi-national Muslim clientele, keeps the peace and politics at the door, even on the night the Turkey military engaged Kurdish rebels across the Syrian border. A graduate of Adelphi University, he has an OPC Foundation fellowship with the GroundTruth Project. His podium remarks.


Matthew DeButts
Stanford University
FRITZ BEEBE FELLOWSHIP
Endowed by Anne and Larry Martz; presented by Larry and Anne Martz

Matt wisely learned the best way to unwrap the mysteries of Beijing was to learn Mandarin. In his winning essay, he wrote about a successful Chinese worker who discovered mid-career that he was adopted and that his real parents were actually Japanese. He is a graduate of Amherst College and has a master’s degree from Peking University in Beijing. He has an OPC Foundation fellowship with the Reuters bureau in Hong Kong. His podium remarks.


Annie Rosenthal
Yale University
SALLY JACOBSEN FELLOWSHIP
Endowed by family and friends; presented by Patrick and Alex Oster, Sally’s husband and son

Annie wrote about the efforts of forensic anthropologists working with families of missing migrants to identify the remains of bodies found on the US-Mexico border. She spent several weeks covering the story last summer. Fluent in Spanish, she has also interned for newspapers in Pittsburgh and Alaska and is the co-editor-in-chief of Yale’s The New Journal. She has an OPC Foundation fellowship with AP in Bogotá. Her podium remarks.


Genevieve Finn
UCLA
RICHARD PYLE SCHOLARSHIP
Endowed by family and friends and presented by Brenda Smiley, Richard’s wife

Genevieve discovered her passion for journalism on a 10-week trek to the Yucatan. Her travels have since taken her to an internship with the New York Times in Sydney and to study in Ghana. In her essay, she wrote about a five-day trip aboard a container ship in the South China Sea. A child of the Chinese diaspora, she speaks Spanish conversationally. She has an OPC Foundation fellowship with the Associated Press in Mexico City. Her podium remarks.


Mateo Nelson
New York University
RICK DAVIS-DEB AMOS SCHOLARSHIP
Endowed by Deb Amos and friends and presented by Deb Amos, Middle East correspondent for NPR News

The day after graduating from Princeton, Mateo moved to Jordan to study Arabic. Journalism came next and almost by chance, when he joined the staff of Syria Direct, the Amman-based non-profit producing in-depth coverage of Syria. In his essay, he wrote about a Syrian student and tour guide in Berlin. Also proficient in Portuguese and Spanish, Mateo has an OPC Foundation fellowship in the Reuters bureau in Beirut. His podium remarks.