Four Charles Sturt University (CSU) third year journalism students have been awarded prestigious scholarships by the Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) in a precedent dubbed ‘a huge honour’ by Mr Chris McGillion, senior lecturer in journalism at the School of Communication.

 

“We are proud and excited that Copyright Agency Limited chose to offer CSU journalism students this scholarship opportunity to enable them to gain overseas work experience,” Mr McGillion said.

 

“As part of their training all CSU journalism students are required to complete a minimum four week internship with a news organisation, usually in Australia,” Mr McGillion explained.

 

“A condition of the CAL scholarship application process required all the applicants to use their own initiative and contacts to secure ‘in principle’ support for their proposed internship with the host organisations prior to submitting their application.

 

“Because overseas work experience is increasingly important in the modern globalised media context, the real benefit that these students gain from their overseas internships is that it will help to distinguish them from other journalism job applicants in the future,” Mr McGillion said.

 

The total value of the CAL Cultural Fund scholarships is approximately $30 000. The scholarships will enable the students to gain work experience placements for up to three months with media organisations overseas. The value of the individual scholarships, to a maximum of $10 000, is determined by the destination and duration of each internship.

 

Emma Partridge will spend four weeks in the United Kingdom working with three local London newspapers; The East London Advertiser, The Watford Observer and The Bath Chronicle. Ella Doonan will work for four weeks in New Zealand with Yahoo Online News. Alicia Undzillo will work with BBC World News for four weeks and for two weeks with Sky News, both in London. Guy Logan with will work for three months with The Current Newspaper Group in Washington DC.

 

This is the first year of the CAL Cultural Fund journalism internship scholarships which have initially been offered for three years. The CAL Cultural Fund provides support to a large variety of research projects, award programs and initiatives which aim to benefit CAL members and the Australian cultural community at large.