Club awards Kevin Palomino its Spring 2024 Lewis Scholarship
The National Press Club, the world’s leading professional organization for journalists, has chosen Kevin Palomino of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as the recipient of its Lewis Scholarship for Spring 2024. The scholarship provides housing and a $4,000 stipend to support a student journalist of color interning at a news media outlet in Washington.
Palomino will intern this spring at WZDC/Telemundo 44 in Washington. A broadcast journalism student at the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, he impressed the judges with a strong commitment to writing and video as well as a clear and focused vision of what he wanted to do with his journalism internship.
“The Lewis Scholarship provides me with an opportunity to grow as a journalist,” Palomino said. “During my internship this spring, I plan to use my lived experiences as a first-generation DACA student to diversify news coverage of our most underrepresented communities.”
The Lewis Scholarship was established in 2022 by the family of former Washington correspondent Robert “Bob” D.G. Lewis. It is awarded to one undergraduate student journalist of color each fall, spring, and summer semester. Students must secure a journalism internship in Washington, D.C., to be eligible, along with other requirements.
His professors praised Palomino’s ambition and passion to tell the stories of underrepresented communities.
“From the first moment I met Kevin more than three years ago, it was clear he was serious about journalism and how it could help improve the life of his community,” said Mike Boettcher, correspondent in residence at Gaylord College. “Not many students come to campus sharply focused, but Kevin is an exception.”
Palomino’s critical understanding of journalism ethics and the need for diverse voices stand out to Pam Ortega, U.S. coordinator at RIAS Berlin Commission, a bi-national organization that promotes German-American understanding in the field of broadcasting.
“Kevin has unquestionably cemented an impressive reputation as a proven and devoted advocate for more diversified news coverage,” Ortega said.
The Lewis Scholarship program furthers Bob and Jacqueline Lewis’s work to improve accessibility to experiential learning opportunities in the nation’s capital for students of color. This partnership, administered through the National Press Club Journalism Institute, extends the Lewis’ commitment to increasing representation in Washington, D.C., to include news media, adding to their work founding and operating the Washington Intern Student Housing program and the HBCU National Center.
“I see a bright future ahead in journalism for Kevin,” said Gil Klein, president of the National Press Club Journalism Institute and resident director of the Washington Journalism Program at Gaylord College. “Those who assist Kevin now will see the fruits of that help in the future, and I am pleased to be part of moving him forward.”
National Press Club scholarships are administered by its nonprofit affiliate, the National Press Club Journalism Institute. Click here to learn more.