This year, SAJA awarded $5,000 each to six students currently enrolled (or planning to enroll) in journalism programs, totaling $30,000 in scholarship funds. Read more about them below.

2026

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.