SPH Media awards eight journalism scholarships to budding newsroom talent
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(From left) SPH Media journalism scholarship recipients Bao Rong and Hana Chen and SPH Media-Temasek Foundation scholarship recipient Kenme Lam.
ST PHOTO: GIN TAY
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SINGAPORE - Just one week into the job, Straits Times intern journalist Hana Chen
She read journals as part of her research, and interviewed lawyers to find out more about the impact of the ground-breaking technology.
This experience encouraged the Temasek Polytechnic graduate in communications and media management to believe that she could be a good fit in the newsroom.
“I enjoy talking to people and uncovering new things. Sometimes, telling stories means putting reporters into uncomfortable situations, but I want to continue pushing myself past my comfort zone while on the job.”
Despite it being a short two-month internship at ST, Ms Chen shared that she felt a great sense of duty while on the job.
“As a journalist, I have a responsibility to my readers to share stories objectively and truthfully,” added the 20-year-old.
Ms Chen was one of eight recipients of the SPH Media journalism scholarship in 2023 at a ceremony at the SPH News Centre on Friday. She will pursue an undergraduate degree in English and history at Queen Mary University of London in September.
Another budding journalist who received a scholarship was Ms Bao Rong, 20.
Growing up in a family of journalists, she was inspired to follow in her relatives’ footsteps.
Her father is the sports news chief editor at The Beijing News, a newspaper owned by the Communist Party of China.
“My uncle and mother used to be journalists too, so I grew interested in the work they did from a young age,” said Ms Bao, who interned for two months at Chinese-language daily Lianhe Zaobao earlier in 2023.
While she has previously done media internships in China, she likes how Zaobao’s news writing style better communicates to readers on matters they care about, she said.
“I found out that writing news is something that can truly benefit people’s lives. Once, someone e-mailed me after reading my article on dental check-ups at hospitals to ask if he could walk into the hospital, without making an appointment, to get his teeth checked. I was happy that I could help him out.”
Ms Bao will start her undergraduate studies at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in August, majoring in humanities and sciences, and communications and new media.
The journalism scholarship covers students’ tuition fees and provides them with a monthly stipend and internship opportunities. Scholarship holders serve a three- to six-year bond with SPH Media once they graduate.
In addition to the eight journalism scholarships given out, the inaugural SPH Media-Temasek Foundation scholarship was introduced this year for students from the NUS Department of Communications and New Media and Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information.
Ms Kenme Lam, 20, is one of three recipients of this new scholarship on Friday.
The NUS first-year student took a gap year before entering university to work at Bloomberg doing corporate philanthropy, which piqued her interest in journalism.
“Although I wasn’t working as a journalist there, I spoke to many writers and editors there and saw how exciting their work was. Though it must have been tiring, they really enjoyed what they were doing,” she said.
Ms Lam, who will intern in SPH’s newsrooms and go through a one-year paid traineeship upon graduation, said she looks forward to being in the thick of news as it unfolds, and aims to understand how the traditional media industry is adapting to new developments.
“When I start work at SPH, I hope to learn from the wealth of experience that my colleagues and editors have,” she added.
Other than nurturing young talent, SPH awarded four fellowships to its seasoned journalists.
Ms Clara Lock, a correspondent at ST,
Ms Michelle Ng, a housing correspondent at ST
