LA QUINTA, Calif. (September 16, 2007) -- The Jim Murray Memorial Foundation's 2007 Murray Scholars have been selected as the result of a nationwide essay competition. Seven journalism students will be honored on Sunday evening, December 2nd, at the Murray Scholars-Great Ones Awards dinner being held at the new Embassy Suites La Quinta-Hotel & Spa in Old Town La Quinta, Calif.
Each Murray Scholar receives a $5,000 journalism scholarship based on second and third year print journalism student eligibility and a written essay. Journalists who determined the 2007 winners were Rachel Bachman, The Oregonian; Bryan Burwell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch; Gordon Edes, Boston Globe; Helene Elliott, Los Angeles Times; Jerry Izenberg, Newark Star-Ledger; Rob McCurdy, News Journal, Mansfield, Ohio; Ken Peters, Associated Press-Los Angeles.
The 2007 scholarship winners are Elizabeth Manring, University of Missouri; Gabe Khouli, Ball State University; Josh Moyer, Penn State University; Dallas Woodburn, University of Southern California; Zach Berman, Syracuse University, Brittany Hughes, Ohio University-Athens; and Melissa Katz, Trinity College.
The John Curley School of Journalism at Penn State University is a first-time winner. Ball State University and University of Southern California welcome their fourth Murray Scholars, University of Missouri embraces its third scholarship winner, and Syracuse University and Ohio University-Athens each lay claim to two Murray Scholars. Trinity College-Hartford, Jim Murray's alma mater, has a JMMF scholarship recipient annually.
Linda McCoy-Murray, president and founder of the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation said, "After eight years of cultivating the crème of the crop at prestigious journalism schools in the nation, it is exhilarating and heartwarming to see how our family of Murray Scholars grew to 56 this year. The Murray Scholars inspire each other to strive for a higher standard in their writing and journalistic integrity. They are marvelous ambassadors for the Foundation."
McCoy-Murray established the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation in 1999 to perpetuate her late husband's memory and his love and dedication to his extraordinary career in journalism. Murray, who died August 16, 1998, began his illustrious career at the New Haven [Conn.] Register after graduating Trinity College [Class of '43], Hartford, Conn. After a stint at the now extinct Los Angeles Examiner, he joined Time & Life [now Time, Inc.] In 1954, while Hollywood cinema correspondent for Time magazine, Murray became one the founders of Sports Illustrated. Joining the Los Angeles Times in 1961, Murray won a Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 1990, and won the National Sportswriter of the Year Award 14 times. Murray's outstanding work landed him a spot in the writers' wing in Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.
For the ninth consecutive year, legendary "King" of golf, Arnold Palmer, is honorary chairman of the Jim Murray Invitational Golf Classic being held at SilverRock Resort in La Quinta, Calif., on Monday, December 3, 2007. Future NHL Hall of Famer and former Los Angeles KINGS left winger, Luc Robitaille, is being honored at the Murray Scholars-Great Ones Awards dinner on Sunday, December 2, 2007, at the new Embassy Suites La Quinta - Hotel & Spa in Old Town La Quinta, Calif.
For more information on the Jim Murray Memorial Foundation and/or the Jim Murray Invitational Golf Classic at SilverRock, please call 760-771-8972 or email golf@jimmurrayfoundation.org or MurrayScholars@aol.com.