2019-2020 Recipients
Below is a listing of the Headliners Foundation’s 2019-2020 scholarship recipients. Click here for the Foundation’s media release announcing scholarship recipients.
George Christian Scholar
Elizabeth (Liza) Anderson is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin studying Plan II Honors and history. She was the editor-in-chief of The Daily Texan throughout the 2018-2019 school year. During her time as editor, she focused on producing investigative editorials about administrative transparency at UT, particularly involving sexual harassment and misconduct. Prior to becoming editor-in-chief, Anderson worked at the Texan as a designer, a columnist, a senior designer, an associate editor and a forum editor. She worked as the editorial intern for the Dallas Morning News in the summer of 2019. She will graduate in the spring of 2020 and pursue a law degree.
Jack Keever Scholar
Alex Briseño is a junior at the University of Texas at Austin studying journalism and radio, television and film. He was the sports editor, Double Coverage editor and football beat writer at The Daily Texan in the fall of 2018 before accepting an internship at Sports Illustrated for the Spring 2019 semester. Alex has spent seven semesters at the Texan, which will soon turn to eight after he serves as the managing editor for the summer 2019 term. He has had the privilege of holding numerous positions in the sports department, including senior reporter, associate editor and editor. His work has been featured in Sports Illustrated, Dallas Morning News, Austin American-Statesman and the Texan to name a few. Alex will graduate in the spring of 2020 with the hopes of pursuing a career in journalism.
Jack Keever Scholar, Spring 2020
Lisa Nhan is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin studying Business Management and Government. For the Spring of 2020, she will serve as The Daily Texan’s Managing Editor. She has been a part of The Daily Texan since her freshman year. Beginning as a reporter and editor in the News Department, she later went to pursue investigative journalism as a Projects Reporter where she broke stories on hazing, such as the Cowboy’s investigation and Texas Rho. She also served on The Daily Texan’s inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Board, where she was able to pursue her passion for increasing representation in journalism content and workplaces. She will graduate in the fall of 2020 and hopes to pursue a graduate degree in law.
Texas Associated Press Broadcasters Scholar
Ryan Chandler is a second-year student at The University of Texas at Austin pursuing dual degrees in journalism and government. He has worked across broadcast, print, and multimedia formats to tell the story of the Longhorn community throughout his college career. Currently, he is an executive producer and host of Tower Talks, a weekly political news program aimed at fostering productive dialogue and adding the student perspective to the headlines. Previously, he worked as news producer and host for Texas Student Television's morning news program Good Morning TX. He has also worked for The Daily Texan as an editorial columnist and podcast reporter. Ryan received the Ernest H. Garbe Award for student journalism in 2018 and has been recognized at the Moody College of Communications Honors Day. His favorite areas to cover are underrepresented communities, homelessness and the Texas Legislature. He (hopes) to graduate in December 2020 and pursue a career in broadcast journalism.
GEORGE MOORE Scholar
Arianna Flores is a junior at the University of Texas at Austin, where she is pursuing a dual-degree in Plan II Honors and Journalism alongside a minor in Architectural Studies. She was previously on staff at the Daily Texan as a copy editor for the 2017-2018 school year. During the summer of 2016, she interned for an online news publication based in San Antonio, the Rivard Report. She also has had the opportunity to study photojournalism overseas in Prague, Czech Republic. In 2021, after graduation in the spring, she hopes to pursue photojournalism or music journalism as a full-time career.
Verne Lundquist Scholar
Luke Henkhaus is an economics senior with a journalism minor at Texas A&M University. Luke served as managing editor of the university’s student-run newspaper, The Battalion, during the 2018-2019 school year and will serve as editor-in-chief for the fall 2019 semester. He has been part of The Battalion’s award-winning coverage of white nationalist speaker Richard Spencer’s appearance on campus in 2016 and the state funeral of President George H.W. Bush in 2018. Luke’s reporting focuses primarily on student life and public policy in higher education. He plans to graduate in December 2019 and pursue a graduate program in journalism and public policy.
FOUNDERS’ SCHOLAR
Meghan Holland is from Amarillo where she received her associate’s degree in Psychology at Amarillo College. She is entering her junior year at the University of Texas at Austin where she will study journalism and leadership communication. Meghan was invited to George Mason University to participate in the Washington Journalism and Media Conference, which ignited her love for the field of journalism. During her time at AC, she was part of the Presidential Scholars program where she traveled to Peru for a service trip and wrote articles for the college paper about the experience. She was on staff for The Ranger, AC’s student newspaper, where she was a feature writer, as well as a staff reporter. She won second place in the undergraduate oral presentation category at the West Texas A&M Student Research Conference in April 2019 for her research on how color photography influences a person’s perception of the media. She will graduate in May 2021 and hopes to pursue a career in journalism.
Sarah and Ernest Butler Scholar
Anuraga (Raga) Justin is a sophomore at The University of Texas at Austin, where she is studying journalism and Plan II honors and pursuing a certificate in Business Spanish. Originally from Texarkana, TX , she has freelanced for her hometown paper and various magazines. She has been with The Daily Texan news department for four semesters, previously as a City/State reporter covering the inner workings of Austin city government and currently as a news desk editor. Additionally, Raga interns with the Moody School of Journalism website and is a journalism writing coach with the Moody Writing Support Program. She is especially interested in education policy and the U.S. Supreme Court, and hopes to report on those topics post-graduation.
JIMMY BANKS Scholar
Morgan Kuehler-Gray is a junior at the University of Texas at Austin studying Radio, Television, and Film and Journalism. She served as the Audio Director at the Daily Texan for the 2018-2019 school year. Additionally, she has spent two semesters as an intern for Texas Standard, a daily radio newsmagazine aired on all Texas NPR affiliate stations. Recently, Morgan started as KUT’s newest on-air host, covering their evening programming. She has also completed a Transom Travelling Workshop in Nashville, TN. Transom workshops are highly selective and considered the “premier public media training ground”. Morgan is extremely passionate about public media and wants to make sure everyone has access to high quality and educational programming. After graduating in May 2020, Morgan hopes to move into full-time work at a public radio station or podcast.
Jack Keever Scholar
Catherine Marfin is a senior at the University of Texas at Austin studying journalism and public relations, and pursuing a minor in sociology and a certificate in forensic science. Catherine found herself in The Daily Texan basement during her first week of class at UT, and she hasn’t left since. She first spent many semesters in the news department, serving in the roles of senior reporter, news desk editor and news editor. For the last year, she has worked in the management office of the Texan, first as managing editor in summer 2018 and then as associate managing editor for fall 2018 and spring 2019. She will serve as managing editor of the Texan during the fall of 2019. Her work at the Texan has landed her internships at the Austin American-Statesman, the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, the Austin Bureau of the Houston Chronicle, the Texas Tribune, and Burson Cohn & Wolfe. When she isn’t reporting, you can find Catherine playing piccolo in the Longhorn Marching Band. Catherine will graduate in the fall of 2019 and hopes to pursue a career in print journalism.
founders’ Scholar
Reece Nations is a junior at Texas Tech University studying journalism with a minor in political science. Formerly a news staff writer for The Daily Toreador, Reece became The DT’s news editor before accepting a position with The Hub@TTU, an award-winning publication that produces exemplary collaborative student media projects. Having produced content on a multitude of topics, he primarily focuses on government reporting and special interest matters geared toward Tech’s student body and the surrounding community. Reece has received numerous awards for his reportage, including a certificate of merit from the Columbia Scholastic Press Association and two first-place awards for narrative news reporting from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. He was also a legislative aide in the Texas House of Representatives during the 86th Legislative session. An avid music enthusiast, Reece volunteers as a DJ and radio personality with Tech’s student-run station, KTXT 88.1 The Raider. In his exceedingly rare free-time, he can be found practicing photography, vinyl record shopping or attending obscure sporting events. After finishing his degree in December 2020, Reece hopes to continue his journalistic work in a variety of formats in the news media industry.
Barry bishop scholar
Hannah Onder is a senior mass communication major at Texas Wesleyan. She has a double minor in sociology and English and a passion for storytelling.
Hannah has worked her university’s student newspaper, The Rambler, since her freshmen year in 2016.
She served as editor-in-chief for the past three semesters and will be mentoring a new editor-in-chief in the fall of 2019.
Hannah specializes in feature writing, graphic design, and page layout, although she has experience writing breaking news, general news, opinions, editorials, and reviews as well as doing photography. She has won multiple awards from the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association and Society of Professional Journalists for her individual and collaborative work and recently received the Outstanding Editor Award from her university.
This year is her third time being awarded a scholarship from the Headliners Foundation of Texas, and she’s grateful for their continued support in her academic journey.
founders’ Scholar
Hannah Ortega is a sophomore at the University of Texas at Austin studying journalism and English and pursuing a certificate in creative writing. She served as a general news reporter for The Daily Texan in fall 2018 and as a campus news reporter in spring 2019. In summer 2018, Hannah worked as a breaking news intern for The Dallas Morning News, and she has been a volunteer news writer for the animation news website Rotoscopers. Hannah will graduate in spring 2022.
Dolly and Paul Bolton Scholar
Allyson Ortegon is currently a writer for The Alcalde, the alumni magazine of The University of Texas at Austin. She spent the past months as a reporting fellow covering the 86th Texas Legislature for public radio stations around the state. She has interned previously for KUT, Austin’s NPR Station. Originally from Cibolo, Texas, Allyson began her reporting career for Schertz Magazine, published near San Antonio. Since moving to Austin, Allyson has reported across multiple platforms including radio, television and print media. She worked for student media including The Daily Texan, ORANGE Magazine and Texas News Channel. She is also an active member of National Association of Hispanic Journalists and has served on the UT Chapter's officer board. She will graduate from the University of Texas at Austin's School of Journalism with a secondary concentration in business in May 2020.
Darrell K. Royal Scholar
Jakob Rodriguez is a senior at Texas State University studying journalism. Jakob served as the Sports Editor of the student-run independent newspaper The University Star during the 2018-2019 school year and earned first place in print sports writing at the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association awards in the onsite competition. Jakob will return to Texas State in the fall as the Star’s Editor In Chief and has been involved with student media for the past three years. Surrounded by large-scale news events like immigration and corrupt politics in the Rio Grande Valley he fell in love with truth digging and accountability journalism.
John “Brick” Elliott Scholar
Lizzy Spangler is a junior at the University of North Texas studying digital and print journalism with minors in history and political science. She is currently an editorial intern at Southlake Style Magazine and has worked for the North Texas Daily for three semesters as a news writer. She has previously interned at the Dallas Morning News and Study Breaks Magazine. Recently, Lizzy earned second place in in-depth reporting at the 2019 Texas Intercollegiate Press Association for her reporting on UNT’s pay gap. This summer, she will be interning at the Denton Record-Chronicle through the Scripps-Howard Foundation. Graduating in the spring of 2020, Lizzy hopes to pursue a career in print or online journalism.
Stuart Long Memorial Scholar for Aspiring Journalists
Carrington J. Tatum is a first-generation journalism student at Texas State University from Garland, Texas. Never much a fan of classroom instruction, Carrington has admittedly sacrificed straight A's for real experience which lead him to serve as the first African-American editor-in-chief of the University Star, the independent student-run newspaper of Texas State. While managing the Star's newsroom of 150 employees across seven sections, he has shown skill in news, feature, and opinion writing, as well as photojournalism.
During Carrington’s tenure at The University Star, it saw a 115 percent increase in web traffic and was recognized by the College Media Association, Society of Professional Journalists and the Texas Intercollegiate Press Association. Carrington was also given a regional award from SPJ for his story uncovering an unconstitutional policy within Texas State’s housing department. This brand of impact journalism is what Carrington aspires to apply to underserved communities after graduation.
Wilbur Evans Scholar
Tiana Woodard is a junior at The University of Texas at Austin studying journalism and English. She worked as one of The Daily Texan’s two Life and Arts co-editors and a Diversity and Inclusion Board member for spring 2019. She plans on returning to the Texan to continue her work on the Board and take on a position as an investigative reporter in the fall. This summer, she will travel to London to film a documentary highlighting an Iranian refugee’s art and its ties to migration and identity. After London, she will return to Austin to intern at KUT News, working on the nationally syndicated program “In Black America.” She plans on graduating in spring 2021 to pursue a career in print and video journalism. Through her reporting, she wants to bring more media attention to marginalized communities.