The White House Historical Association, in partnership with Iowa State University’s Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication and the White House Correspondents’ Association, has awarded Olivia Benjamin with the Hugh S. Sidey Scholarship in Print Journalism. Benjamin will receive $5,000 and an all-expense paid trip to Washington, D.C.
Benjamin has been invited to attend the 2020 White House Correspondents’ Dinner as a guest of the White House Correspondents’ Association and will be included among the scholarship winners honored at the event, which has been rescheduled for August 29, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Hugh S. Sidey Scholarship in Print Journalism at the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication was established in 2006 at Sidney’s alma mater, Iowa State University, by way of the White House Historical Association. The award supports aspiring print journalists at the Greenlee School who exhibit an extraordinary understanding of the responsibilities of covering the chief executive and the core principle of social responsibility that resides with the print journalist.
Olivia Benjamin is from Sloan, Iowa, and is a junior majoring in public relations at Iowa State University. Her dream job is to work in crisis communications in politics. At ISU, she is involved with the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and the First Amendment Days Committee. She is the communications assistant for the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication, interned in marketing and social media for Kohl’s Professional Kicking Camps and was also a communications intern for the College of Engineering.
Previous winners have visited Washington, attended a White House press briefing, and toured media outlets such as POLITICO, The Washington Post, and McClatchy News Service.
Read more in the White House Historical Association’s official announcement. Learn more about the Hugh S. Sidey Scholarship here, and read Benjamin’s 2019 winning essay.