WHCA Awards Hampton Students $12,000 in Scholarships
Hampton, Virginia – Jan. 28, 2026 – Hampton University Dean Julia Wilson has been appointed chair of the White House Correspondents’ Association (WHCA) Aldo Beckman Awards Committee. The award recognizes a correspondent who personifies journalistic excellence, integrity, perseverance, and other qualities demonstrated by Aldo Beckman, a former award-winning correspondent with the Chicago Tribune and former White House Correspondents’ Association President.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to serve as the 2026 Chair of the Aldo Beckman Awards Committee,” said Wilson, Dean of Hampton University’s Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications. “Journalistic coverage of the White House will be the primary criterion judges use to determine who receives the award. They can also recognize an outstanding young reporter, a reporter who has exhibited repeated excellence in covering the White House or a journalist who personifies the human qualities of Aldo Beckman.”
Competition for the award is open to all journalists who cover the White House on a regular basis or whose reporting is primarily devoted to coverage of the Presidency. Entries must be received by 5 p.m. EST on Friday, February 27.
“Aldo Beckman was known for his journalistic excellence and personal character,” said Steven Thomma, Executive Director of the WHCA and himself a winner of the Beckman award. “The award recognizes a body of work produced by a journalist over the course of a year using a range of journalistic skills and tools to illuminate the President and the Presidency. These can include in-depth reporting, skilled use of data, and clear writing and presentation on topics including presidential decision making, management of the White House and executive branch, the national political landscape as it relates to presidential politics, governing, and other issues,” said Thomma.
Two Hampton University students, Jade AbuBakr and Christian Fluellen, co-producers of Hampton University’s WHOV-TV and journalism majors in the Scripps Howard School, will receive $12,000 in scholarship awards and attend the black-tie dinner along with Dean Wilson. The students will showcase their projects and be spotlighted along with other students from esteemed journalism programs who are enrolled at leading colleges and universities from across the nation.
The 2026 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner will be held on April 25, 2026, at the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C. Held annually, the dinner is the primary fundraiser for the WHCA to support journalism scholarships, awards for excellence in reporting and programs to educate the public about the importance of the First Amendment and free press.
About Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications
The Hampton University Scripps Howard School of Journalism and Communications is committed to preparing its students with a high-quality and well-rounded education for global careers in journalism and strategic communications. SHSJC emphasizes accuracy, balance, fairness, integrity and high ethical standards of excellence through journalism and strategic communications. The Scripps Howard brand is internationally renowned as an educational foundation that promotes, supports and enables aspiring journalists. For More Information: https://home.hamptonu.edu/shsjc/
About the White House Correspondents Association
The White House Correspondents’ Association exists to promote excellence in journalism as well as journalism education, and to ensure robust news coverage of the president and the presidency. We support awards for some of the best political reporting of the past year, and scholarships for young reporters who carry our hopes for vibrant journalism in the years to come. Each day, we work to ensure that the men and women who cover the White House have the ability to seek answers from powerful officials, up to and including the President. Our association comprises hundreds of members from the worlds of print, television, radio and online journalism. Their work, for outlets based in the United States and overseas, reaches a global audience. We also work to encourage new generations of White House correspondents through our college scholarship programs. About two dozen winners are selected each year from across the United States to visit Washington in order to be celebrated and encouraged. For More Information: https://whca.press/
SHSJC Media Contact: Carol C. Crabbe, carol.crabbe@hamptonu.edu or 757.727.5405