Issue:
January 2025
FCCJ dinner honors the latest winners of the Swadesh DeRoy Scholarships
The FCCJ honored aspiring young journalists on December 6 with an awards banquet to recognize winners of the 2024 Swadesh DeRoy Memorial Scholarship. The Scholarship Committee voted to give out two scholarships, in the pen and photo categories, and one honorable mention in video.
The dinner was a full house, with Motoko Rich of the New York Times joining as guest speaker. She spoke about her experience of becoming a journalist, including her first front-page story in the Financial Times, her first employer, about a corporate crook who came home with 40 jars of pickles.
Four winners of the scholarship from previous years also joined the dinner, in line with the Scholarship Committee’s effort to build up the visibility of the scholarship and create a community of past winners.
The Swadesh DeRoy Memorial Scholarship presents a ¥300,000 cash award to students, who compete by submitting original works of journalism. The scholarship honors Swadesh DeRoy, a journalist and club member born in British-ruled Bengal who broke down barriers and served as FCCJ president before passing away in 2001.
Yewon Chang of the University of Tokyo, who submitted an article on Sony's revival and whether it will be sustainable, won in the pen category. The Scholarship Committee found Chang’s piece to be authoritative, nicely written and well-structured. In the words of one member: “It had verve and a certain narrative voice that distinguishes good writing from the bland, corporate and even AI-generated stuff that increasingly floods the internet.” Chang's mother came from South Korea to join the dinner and present her with a bouquet of flowers.
The photo award went to Estella Guo, a student at Temple University, for her photo essay on urban ruins. Her images of abandoned hospitals and apartment were emotionally powerful and demonstrated the tenacity of on-site reporting. “Everyone liked this collection of photos, for its idiosyncrasy and the courage it seems to have taken to get the shots,” the committee said.
The committee gave an honorable mention in the video category to Luo Weiyao of Temple University. All three of these aspiring young journalists also received one-year student memberships. We hope to see them around the club!
Martin Fackler is chair of the FCCJ Scholarship Committee.
