Google News Initiative(September 23, 2019) — Local Media Association today announced winners of five scholarships for media executives of color — funded by Google News Initiative and LMA — to attend the upcoming Philadelphia Innovation Mission on Oct. 16-18, an immersive three-day education event focused on consumer revenue and digital transformation.

Scholarship winners are:

Mariah Craddick
Craddick
Jason Murray
Murray
Patricia Abraham
Abraham
Cindy Gu
Gu
Roger Belgrave
Belgrave
  • Mariah Craddick, product manager for audience, McClatchy (Raleigh-Durham, N.C.)
  • Jason Murray, director of content for audience and visuals, Syracuse Media Group (Syracuse, N.Y.)
  • Patricia Abraham, integrated marketing strategist, Carolina Panorama (Columbia, S.C.)
  • Cindy Gu, publisher, The Epoch Times Media, Inc. (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)
  • Roger Belgrave, managing editor, Torstar Corp. Community Brands (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada)

The five winners’ travel, hotel, meals, transportation and registration costs will be paid by the scholarships. Members of the LMA diversity and inclusion committee selected the winners from among 12 strong applicants.

“As we strive to become a more inclusive organization, these scholarships are extremely important,” said Nancy Lane, president, Local Media Association. “We need more diversity at industry events including LMA Innovation Missions.”

“While McClatchy has been undergoing a digital transformation for the last couple of years,” said Craddick in her application, “we still have a lot more that we want and need to do so that we can truly be a ‘digital subscription first’ business. By attending this Innovation Mission, I want to dive deep into what other local news organizations are doing to shift their business and their cultures.”

“As a relatively new editorial manager and the only one of two newsroom managers of color in the company, I’m eager to succeed,” said Belgrave in his application. “I’m looking for every opportunity to better understand this industry transformation and this sounds like the perfect event to meet others who are not only going through this process, but are further along and seeing successes on this bumpy journey for print journalism.”