For more than half a century, the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation of Washington, D.C., has awarded scholarships to college students with journalistic aspirations in the Washington area. It is an honor to continue a legacy dating to the first scholarships funded in1962 in memory of SDX member and TV news producer Herman Lowe by his late wife, Florence Lowe, mother of chapter member Lesley Israel.
That year, Florence, a local TV news producer, donated $4500 to the Washington Pro Chapter of SDX to fund that scholarship. Two aspiring journalists – Harry Russell Potts and Michael Mosettig – received the financial boost they needed to pursue their dreams at Washington-area colleges.
Since then, the foundation has awarded scholarships to more than 200 students from around the nation to help them attend Washington area colleges and universities. Many scholarship alumni can be found in newsrooms throughout the country as reporters, editors, photographers and visual artists.
We offer a special thanks to the Lowe family for their initiative, the Gridiron Foundation for its decision dating to the 1980s to support the scholarship efforts of SDX DC, the Kiplinger Foundation for the key roles it has played with SDX since the 1990s, and the family of the late Robert D.G. Lewis, former SPJ national president, for its years of support, starting with the Robert D.G. Lewis Award.
Numerous past scholarship recipients have contributed to sustaining the scholarship fund, as have past presidents of SPJ DC and its predecessor, SDX, and the members of the chapter via a portion of their dues that go to the scholarship fund.
