Press Release: SAJA announces 2025 Scholarship Award Recipients

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: SAJA names its 2025 scholarship recipients

New York City, July 15, 2025 – The South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) has announced the names of the recipients of its 2025 scholarship funds. This year, six students who are currently enrolled in journalism programs or in pursuit of a journalism degree have been awarded $5,000 each, for a total disbursement of $30,000 in scholarship funds from SAJA.

The following students have been selected for this year’s scholarship: 

• Raginee Sudhir Chaurey, M.J. (Master of Journalism), UC Berkeley

• Areeba Fatima, M.S. in Data Journalism, Columbia University

• Nazeefa Ahmed, M.A. in Journalism, Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY

• Ananya Chag, B.S. in Journalism, Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism

• Tanka Dhakal, M.S. in Media, Indiana University, The Media School

• Neil Lazurus, B.A. in Journalism, American University, School of Communication

To ensure a fair and robust evaluation process of each application, a committee of judges appointed by the board are enlisted to review each student based on need, interest in journalism (e.g. related coursework, internships, part-time work), and interest in contributing to the SAJA community. The following individuals were recruited to judge the candidate’s full profile, including two existing SAJA Board Members:

• Indira Somani, Ph.D., Documentary Director/Producer; SAJA Board Member

• Mihir Zaveri, Reporter, The New York Times; SAJA Board Member

• Dr. Maurine Beasley, Professor Emerita, University of Maryland

• Dr. Stacey Woelfel, Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri

• Prof. Suzanne Lysak, Associate Professor, Chapman University

• Juhi Doshi, Associate Producer, Meet the Press

In its commitment to support and promote high-quality journalism, SAJA oversees this annual scholarship program to help students afford tuition. In 2025, the SAJA board elected to raise the total scholarship fund to $30,000 total and increase the number of recipients in order to provide stronger financial support to each individual. 

ABOUT SAJA

Founded in March 1994 with just 18 members, the South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA) now represents more than 1,000 journalists of South Asian origin across the U.S. and Canada. SAJA serves as a network for training, inspiration, and support—not only for South Asian journalists but for anyone covering South Asia and its diaspora. SAJA also aims to improve the coverage of the Subcontinent and its diaspora.