OHIO VisCom students win half of all National Press Photographers Foundation scholarships

Ohio University School of Visual Communication students accounted for over half of all scholarships awarded nationally this year by the National Press Photographers Foundation.

“This is another external recognition of the caliber of students in our programs and how they and their work stack up against students at other institutions,” said Stan Alost, a professor in the School of Visual Communication.

The $2,000 scholarship was awarded to four graduate students and one senior, accounting for 56% of this year’s scholarship recipients. The recipients include graduate students Michael Blackshire, Steel Brooks, Morgan Timms and Dishari Mukherjee, and senior Erin Burk.

"I am honored to receive this scholarship along with other OHIO students,” Blackshire said. 

Blackshire won the Bob East Scholarship; Brooks won the C. Thomas Hardin and Mary C. Hardin Documentary Photojournalism Scholarship; Timms won the Kit King Scholarship; Mukherjee won the Bob Baxter Scholarship; and Burk won the Reid Blackburn Scholarship.

“I have learned a lot from people who allowed me to photograph their life. They are all the reason for what I have achieved today,” Mukherjee said, stating how influential her mentors — particularly Alost — at the Scripps College of Communication have been on her as a photographer.

OHIO’s Visual Communication program is among the top in the nation and attracts some of the most talented photographers from across the world.

“It is truly an honor to be a recipient of this year’s scholarship,” Timms said.

“[Alost] has been really instrumental in just helping me progress in my education and my work,” Brooks said.

To be considered, the students submitted portfolios of their work. In addition to the scholarship, the winners were awarded a Sony camera, a microphone from Saramonic and a bag from ThinkTank.

“The school of visual communication here is just really incredible and so supportive,” Burk said. “I am so grateful to be a part of it as well as the wider OHIO community.