SPJ Colorado Pro awards two scholarships to journalism students every year – the Helen Verba Award for print journalism and the Sheldon Peterson Award for broadcast journalism. Each are open to high school seniors and college and university students attending any accredited U.S. college or university. To have beeen considered, applicants had to plan on entering a career in broadcast journalism and be from or living in Colorado.

Applicants submitted cover letters, essays, clips/broadcast pieces, references and resumes. Recipients were decided by a committee.

Our 2017 scholarship winners are:

Helen Verba Award for print journalism

• *Mary Chappel, East High School
• Rachael Worthington, Colorado State University
• Kristin Oh, University of Colorado Boulder
• Nick Puckett, University of Montana
• Haley Candelario, Colorado State University
• Kayla Klein, Metropolitan State University of Denver
• Emily McPeak, University of Colorado Boulder
• Zahria Sanchez-Rogers, Colorado State University Pueblo
• Alec Williams, Colorado Mesa University

Sheldon Peterson Award for broadcast journalism

• *Mary Chappel, East High School in Denver
• Audrey Rodriguez, University of Colorado Boulder
• Celeste Zubia, Metropolitan State University of Denver

*Mary Chappel won scholarships from both the print and broadcast competition.