June 2026 Newsletter

From top left to right: Navya Singh, Mehedi Marof, Shreya Mishra, Daneen Khan, Riddhi Bora, Thisanka Siripal.

2026 SAJA Scholarship Recipients

Happy Summer! SAJA is proud to announce this year's scholarship recipients. Our winners come from across the globe and represent a wide range of journalism including investigative work, documentary filmmaking, education reporting and video production. Please join us in celebrating the achievements and bright futures of these emerging journalists!
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Navya Singh, B.S. in Journalism, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University Navya Singh is a rising junior at Northwestern University studying journalism, data science and creative writing. This summer, she interned at Midstory in Toledo, Ohio, reporting on all things Midwest. During the school year, she reports for campus paper The Daily Northwestern, where she most recently served as the Solutions Journalism editor.

Mehedi Marof, MJ, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park Mehedi Marof is a Bangladeshi journalist pursuing a master's degree at the University of Maryland, where he is also a reporting fellow with the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism. His freelance work has appeared in publications including Al Jazeera, NBC News, Rest of World, The Diplomat, Dialogue Earth, Scroll, Maryland Matters, and The Wire. Before moving to the U.S., he was a reporter with Netra News in Dhaka.

Riddhi Bora, BJ, Moody College of Communication, The University of Texas at Austin Riddhi is a rising senior journalism major at The University of Texas at Austin and participant in the Moody College of Communication Honors Program. She’s currently an intern for ABC's World News Tonight with David Muir. Previously, she was an audience engagement fellow at The Texas Tribune and a news intern for NPR's Texas Standard. Before that, she was a reporter and editor for The Daily Texan's Life & Arts department. In her free time she enjoys reading, dancing, watching movies and photography.

Daneen Khan, B.S., BA, Hussman School of Journalism and Media, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Daneen Khan is a rising senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where she studies journalism and information science. She was the Community Engagement Managing Editor at The Daily Tar Heel, has reported for local North Carolina publications and is a 2026 Dow Jones News Fund audience engagement intern at The Current GA. She hopes to pursue a career in investigative journalism, graphics reporting or audience engagement to make the news more engaging and accessible for diverse audiences.

Shreya Mishra, MJ, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism
Shreya Mishra is an Indian documentarian, journalist, and UC Berkeley School of Journalism graduate student. As an education reporter, her work for outlets like CapRadio and Oakland North explored how Trump-era policies impacted California students, community college HSI grants, and LGBTQ health research. Her documentary about a retired journalist navigating Alzheimer’s in Delhi earned a special mention at Film South Asia 2024. Shreya’s latest documentary chronicles California Uber drivers fighting to form their first-ever gig workers union.

Thisanka Siripala, MS, Columbia University, Graduate School of Journalism Thisanka Siripala is a Sri Lankan/Australian international news journalist based in Japan. She is fluent in Japanese and has a background in audio and video news production. She is passionate about combining data science and computation into modern journalism. She’s been a regular columnist for The Diplomat and formally worked as a multimedia journalist at the Associated Press, Deutsche Welle and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Thisanka graduated from the University of Melbourne (Honours) and was a Japanese government MEXT scholar, studying economics at Keio University in Tokyo in 2019. She will begin pursuing a master’s degree in data journalism at Columbia University in the fall.

Thank you to this year’s judges for their time and deliberation!

Professor Emerita Amy Eisman, American University, School of Communications

Professor Debora Wenger, The University of Mississippi
Maneeza Iqbal, Online and Social Media Editor, ABC-7, Los Angeles
Angeli Kakade, Reporter, KTLA, Los Angeles

Events

Meet Up with SAJA at AAJA!

If you're attending the AAJA convention this year, join SAJA Board Members Esha Ray (left) and Rekha Shanmugam (right) at the AAJA Northeast Regional Mixer (New England, NY, Philly, DC, SAJA and News Nerds).
When: Friday, June 26 | 6:00–8:00 p.m. CT
Where: Day Block Brewing,1105 Washington, Ave. S., Minneapolis, MN 55415
RSVP here.

NAHJ Conference & Expo 2026
The National Association of Hispanic Journalists' annual conference takes place July 22–25 in New Orleans, bringing together journalists, students, and media professionals for workshops, networking opportunities, career development sessions, and discussions on the future of journalism. Learn more about the event here.

SRCCON 2026
Hosted by OpenNews, SRCCON is a collaborative gathering for journalists, editors, developers, designers, and newsroom leaders focused on innovation, community-building, and the future of news. The conference takes place July 8–9 in Minneapolis. Learn more about the event here.

Hacks/Hackers
Two promising events are coming up. The A.I. x Investigative Journalism Forum will be held at The New York Times on Friday, Sept. 25. Join us for a full day of case studies and skill-building with investigative reporters, data journalists, editors and engineers. The A.I. x Visual Journalism Forum will be held in Los Angeles from Aug. 25 to 26. There will be hands-on learning opportunities featuring visual journalists, technologists, artists and ethics experts. Tickets are $50 ($25 for students). If you're interested in attending either event, please take a moment to register here.

Member Spotlights

SAJA Q&A with Karla Murthy

SAJA President Indira Somani spoke with New SAJA Member and filmmaker Karla Murthy for a virtual discussion on her new award-winning documentary The Gas Station Attendant.

In the film, Karla reflects on her father’s life – weaving the story of his miraculous journey from the streets of India with the realities of life in America. Using recorded phone calls with her dad while he worked nights at a gas station along with home movies, Murthy offers a meditation on family, the immigrant experience and the dream for a better future.

Murthy highlighted working in news and “the rigor of trying to turn stories around really quickly” as well as developing her own voice as skills that “fed into the making of this film.”

Click here for the full interview. The Gas Station Attendant is now showing in select cities nationwide. It will premiere on PBS on August 3, 2026.

Longtime former SAJA board member, film journalist, and author Aseem Chhabra recently joined associate life member Roopa Unnikrishnan for a live taping of her podcast, Roopa's 6 Questions for Authors. The conversation explored Chhabra's biographies of Shashi Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Irrfan Khan. Watch the interview here.

Long-time SAJA member Salil Tripathi published a new U.S. edition of his book “The Gujaratis: A Portrait of a Community”. The book is a portrait of the Gujarati community, tracing its history, culture, and influence in India and around the world. Read the Asian Review of Books' take on Salil Tripathi's The Gujaratis: A Portrait of a Community.

Former SAJA Vice President Kiran Khalid has launched Serenoah Advisory, a DC-based communications consultancy specializing in brand narratives and editorial strategy. A veteran journalist with more than 20 years in the industry – including CNN and Good Morning America – Kiran most recently served as SVP at Edelman, where she built content engines for major brands.

Donate to SAJA

Scholarships & Grants

George Viner Memorial Fund Bursary is now open for September 2026 to January 2027 academic year. The bursary supports aspiring Black and Asian journalists in the United Kingdom by covering the costs of a National Union of Journalists (NUJ) recognised media course. More details are available here.

Deadline: July 31, 2026

The Radio Television Digital News Association Foundation awards scholarships and fellowships each year to journalism students and early-career professionals, providing financial support to help advance their education and careers. Deadlines coming up in late summer/early fall!

The SPJ Foundation is accepting grant proposals for projects that strengthen journalism and protect the public's right to know, with priority given to initiatives focused on press freedom, journalist advocacy, media literacy and public trust in news. Applications are due Aug. 13, 2026.

Jobs, Fellowships & Internships

The NYT is looking for a business correspondent to cover the Persian Gulf. The position is based in Dubai and reports to the International Business editor based in London.

Richa Naik, Executive Producer of VOD Streaming at CNN, recently shared that CNN Streaming is hiring for several roles, including Associate Producer, Producer, Senior Producer, Senior Manager, and Director; view current openings through Warner Bros. Discovery.

The Baltimore Sun is hiring an assistant news editor to help curate daily print editions and grow its eNewspaper products, offering an early-career journalist the chance to develop in a fast-paced newsroom.

Bloomberg News is seeking a Chicago bureau chief to lead coverage of one of the nation’s most influential business, financial and political hubs.

The Atlantic is seeking a staff writer to cover the media industry, from newsrooms and platforms to the forces reshaping journalism and public information. This position is based in New York or Washington, D.C.

Check out SAJA’s Job Board and the newsletters below to stay up-to-date on job openings -

Mandy Hofmockel: a newsletter for journalists who want to keep tabs on the industry and job market.
West Coast Media Jobs: a curated list of California & Pacific Northwest journalism jobs.
Inside the Newsroom: the largest curated journalism jobs board in the world.
Freelancing with Tim: a newsletter offering practical advice, industry insights, and career tips for freelancers navigating independent work.

ABOUT US

Founded in March 1994 with just 18 members, the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) now represents more than 1,000 journalists of South Asian origin across the U.S. and Canada. SAJA serves as a network for training, inspiration, and support—not only for South Asian journalists but for anyone covering South Asia and its diaspora. SAJA also aims to improve the coverage of the Subcontinent and its diaspora.

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