Commercial Radio Australia is now accepting applications for the 2021 Brian White Scholarship, which awards a final year university student with an eight-week paid internship at four of Australia’s leading radio newsrooms.

The scholarship is designed to help talented aspiring broadcast journalists gain a foothold in the industry through on the job experience working with the news teams at Australian Radio Network, Nine Radio, Nova Entertainment and Southern Cross Austereo.

“The Brian White Scholarship is a wonderful opportunity for students or recent graduates to experience the fast-paced world of live radio and help produce the news and updates broadcast to millions of Australians every day,” said Joan Warner, chief executive officer of CRA.

Final year broadcast, media, communications and journalism students and recent graduates can submit their applications at www.bhwscholarship.com from now through to May 7.

Entries will be judged by a panel of commercial radio news directors, who will narrow applicants down to 10 finalists across two rounds of judging.

The finalists will then attend a one-day workshop with the news directors in Sydney, where they will undertake a range of news tasks and develop their on-air presenting skills. From there, the scholarship recipient will be selected, with the winner announced in June.

The radio industry work placement involves two weeks at each newsroom in either Sydney or Melbourne.

This is the fifth year that the scholarship has been awarded.  Last year’s winner, Zac de Silva from Macquarie University, will start his internship this month, while the inaugural winner, Rachel Storer, from Newcastle University, now works as a journalist in Melbourne for Australian Radio Network. 

The scholarship is named after legendary radio broadcaster Brian White, who was Australia’s first commercial radio cadet journalist in 1953. He became a dominant figure in radio for more than three decades and was a pioneer of the newstalk format.