Club awards Fanta Kaba the 2024 Richard G. Zimmerman Scholarship
The National Press Club has chosen five exemplary students as the recipients of its scholarships that honor promising future journalists serving their communities.
The Wire is profiling each this week, starting with two who are still in high school. Since the Wire pauses publication on Tuesdays, the next profile will appear in the Wednesday edition.
The National Press Club has selected Fanta Kaba of New York, New York, to be the recipient of its 2024 Richard G. Zimmerman Journalism Scholarship. The award is given to an exceptional high school senior who plans to pursue a career in journalism, and includes a $5,000 one-time scholarship.
Kaba, a senior at The Beacon School, impressed NPC judges with the quality of her writing style and stellar work samples. She already has demonstrated a solid grasp on the art of podcasting and has produced episodes for WNYC Radio and NPR’s Code Switch covering public housing.
This fall Kaba will attend Princeton University.
“My ambition to unearth buried and forgotten stories is at the heart of who I am,” Kaba wrote in her application essay. “As a member and advocate for marginalized communities, I strongly believe my ambition to humanize societal problems will encourage nuance and inspire change by capturing the essence of human existence and sharing it with the world.”
In 2023, Kaba was selected to participate in the three-week Summer Youth Podcast Academy where she produced a narrative podcast discussing the impacts of familial pressures on adolescent mental health, self-perception and family relations.
Recommendation letters from her teachers and supervisors praised her passion for storytelling, ambition and creativity.
“Fanta has an innate ability to know when to stick to the script and when to deviate,” said Carolina Hidalgo, senior producer at WNYC Radio. “I’ve watched her diligently prepare interview questions and then deftly switch things up in order to maintain control of an interview and get the necessary answers. When it comes time to write, Fanta uses vivid imagery and comes up with fluid transitions.”
“Any look at what Fanta has done as an intern at WNYC, a co-host of a podcast episode on NPR Code Switch, or as a leader of a mentoring program at Beacon shows that Fanta feels passionately about creating more justice and opportunity for other students and for other residents in New York City,” said Jessica Radin, a history teacher at The Beacon School.
The Richard G. Zimmerman Scholarship is named for a long-time Club member who died in 2008 and endowed a scholarship in aid of high school seniors who wish to pursue a career in journalism.
“Fanta has already produced incredible journalism in multiple formats while showing a passion for reporting on stories that matter,” National Press Club President Emily Wilkins said. “We are honored to support her as she starts college in the fall and look forward to seeing what she does next.”
In addition to funding, scholarship winners are awarded one-year complimentary membership to the National Press Club. The Club scholarships are administered by its nonprofit affiliate, the National Press Club Journalism Institute.