Merit-Based Scholarships
Ken Fink Michigan Daily Award
The Ken Fink Award Fund supports an annual prize to a staff photographer who demonstrates creativity, humor, spontaneity, originality and technical mastery. The fund was established as a memorial to Ken Fink, a Daily photographer, Photo Editor and Arts & Food Editor from 1972 through 1977 by a group of his college newspaper friends in 1999.
Ray O’Hara Sports Writing Award
The Ray O’Hara Sports Writing Award Fund supports an annual prize to a sports writer at the The Michigan Daily who creates “an article or series of articles that exhibit a perspective that respects the unique role of the Daily as the ‘students’ newspaper’, the significance of athletics to the University, and the relationships among the student athlete, the University and the student body. The article should also illustrate an investigative journalistic style that exhibits candor, a search for truth and a sense of humor, yet honors the highest ethics and principles of journalism.” This fund was established in 1998 in memory of Ray O’Hara, a sports writer for the Daily in the mid-1970’s who maintained a lifelong love for The University of Michigan and its athletics.
Stanford Lipsey Merit Awards
Created and named in honor of Stanford Lipsey, former Michigan Daily and Michiganensian photographer and a great supporter of Student Publications, these three annual merit awards include: The Stanford Lipsey Journalism Award for Investigative Reporting; The Stanford Lipsey Journalism Award for Public Service Reporting; and The Stanford Lipsey Journalism Award for Photographic or Multimedia Storytelling.
Naweed Sikora Scholarship Fund
Established in memory of former Daily sports editor, Naweed Sikora (BBA '04), the Naweed Sikora Scholarship Fund provides support to any Michigan Daily writer, who has worked for the Daily for at least two semesters.
The Michigan Daily Honors Scholarship Fund (Merit and Need-based)
The Michigan Daily Scholarship Fund provides support to a Michigan Daily writer who also participates in the College for Literature, Science and the Arts' Honors Program.
Brentlinger Award for Business or Editorial Writing
Established in 2015 to honor the late Michigan Daily alumnus Paul Brentlinger by his three children, it awards scholarship support to any Daily Business or Editorial writer.
Nancy Bylan Bratman Copy Editing Award
This award was established in memory of Nancy Bylan Bratman (Michigan Daily reporter and editor with exquisite attention to detail) by her sons Ben and David Bratman.
Kavi Shekhar Pandey Arts Writer Scholarship
Established in 2016 in memory of beloved former Daily arts writer and senior arts editor, Kavi Shekhar Pandey ('12), who suffered cardiac arrest and died peacefully in his sleep at age 26. This award honors Daily arts staff with an outstanding work ethic.
Rick Freeman Memorial Merit Award
A new award established in memory of Rick Freeman by his wife Aino Wheler and fellow Daily alum, Jennifer Yachnin. Rick was a beloved managing sports editor at the Daily (1999) who went on to work at the AP sports desk in NY, and passed away at age 40 from brain cancer, in 2017. This award recognizes a rising junior or senior member of The Michigan Daily staff who has worked at the Daily for at least one semester, and can demonstrate an enthusiasm for news-gathering, friendship, and life in general.
