Darryl Hol’s two years at UBC journalism have led him to this moment.
Hol is one of eight journalism students selected for the prestigious Joan Donaldson CBC News Scholarship. Along with fellow UBC graduate student Lien Yeung, Hol will begin the next steps in his journalism career.
“I grew up watching and listening to the CBC. And my first visions of being a journalist were being a journalist for the CBC,” said Hol. “So to have an opportunity to get my foot in the door at the place I always dreamed of working was a pretty good opportunity.”
Hol says he heard about the Donaldson scholarship during his first few months at UBC Journalism. Since then he says every step he took, every internship, every article he published, was to help him reach this goal.
For Hol and Yeung this summer’s internship won’t be their first time in a CBC newsroom. Last summer Hol completed a six-week internship at CBC Toronto. And Yeung has held various positions at CBC over the last few years.
“To be given this opportunity really meant a lot to me,” said Yeung. “It’s a tough time to start a career in media and this gave me some reassurance that I had made the right decision to pursue my passion for journalism.”
New opportunities
The CBC Donaldson scholarship is a four-month internship. During the summer each scholar will work at one or more locations across Canada and will have the chance to work with several CBC shows and platforms.
Last year’s UBC journalism scholarship winners, Garrett Hinchey and Sachi Wickramasinghe, worked at CBC Toronto and Vancouver’s local and national newsrooms. They also worked on shows such as, the Fifth Estate, Community and Marketplace.
Yeung and Hol both said the flexibility of experience was one of the reasons they applied.
“This is an unparalleled opportunity to gain insight into how the CBC News team operates at a local and national level and ultimately, where I see my skills and interest fitting in,” said Yeung.
Stellar students
The scholarship was established in 1999 and honours the founding head of CBC Newsworld, Joan Donaldson.
“I worked with Joan Donaldson early in my career so I know what kind of journalist she was. So for me there’s an extra responsibility when we shepherd our students through to the Donaldson” said UBC Journalism instructor and internship coordinator Kathryn Gretsinger.
“Each year we’ve had the privilege of nominating four people from our school and the two people who won it this year are just stellar students,” she said.
The scholarship is awarded to students who have a record for producing high-quality journalism and demonstrate academic rigour.
“As a school community we could not be more proud to see these students get this opportunity. They have worked very hard for it and it is great to see that hard work pay off. “
