Four journalists win award to attend Wharton program

Four journalists who have won the 2009 Knowledge@Wharton Awards for Business Journalism, sponsored by the South Asian Journalists Association, the Wharton School and the Knowledge@Wharton online business journal.

The winners are:

• Sonia Narang, a member of SAJA and a journalist with NBC News in New York, is the winner of the 10th annual SAJA-Knowledge@Wharton Award.
• Sanjay Bhatt, a member of the Asian American Journalists Association and an enterprise reporter for The Seattle Times, won the AAJA-Knowledge@Wharton Award.
• Olivera Perkins, a member of the National Association of Black Journalists and a business reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, won the NABJ-Knowledge@Wharton Award.
• Jonnelle Marte, a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and a reporting assistant for The Wall Street Journal, won the NAHJ-Knowledge@Wharton Award.

The awards provide journalists with a scholarship to attend the prestigious Wharton Seminars for Business Journalists at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in October. Knowledge@Wharton and SAJA launched the award in 1999 and later expanded it to include the four organizations in UNITY: Journalists of Color — AAJA, NABJ, NAHJ and Native American Journalists Association. (This year there were no NAJA applicants.)

“A mortgage crisis, global market turmoil, federal, state and local government budget cuts and tracking federal stimulus money. It’s clear that economic and business coverage is important no matter what beat a journalist covers,” said SAJA president Sandeep Junnarkar in a statement. “The Wharton seminar is an immensely valuable opportunity for journalists to learn about intricacies of business coverage. We’re grateful to the Wharton School for the 10th year of continued support.”

Any member of SAJA, AAJA, NABJ, NAHJ or NAJA who is a reporter, editor or producer (including freelancers) currently living in the United States or Canada and working in business journalism or a field that overlaps, such as health care or technology, is eligible to apply for the scholarship.

Applicants must be available to attend the Wharton program this year. Individuals with two to seven years of experience as a business reporter or those new to business reporting, but with five to 10 years of experience as a reporter in another field, are encouraged to apply.