OC Weekly, Gambit Weekly are recipients

OC Weekly and Gambit Weekly are the recipients of the third round of AAN Diversity Internship grants for the summer and fall semesters.

The program, which awards two $2,500 grants twice annually, was instituted by the association in 2001 to help alternative weeklies hire and train top-quality minority journalists

The two summer/fall recipients are Tomarra Campbell in New Orleans and Gustavo Arellano in Orange County. Grants were awarded for winter interns to Eugene Weekly and the San Antonio Current.

Campbell, a New Orleans native, is entering her junior year this fall at Wells College in New York. She is a regular columnist for the Wells College student newspaper and a contributor to the campus literary magazine.

“Her work shows she possesses a unique voice and considerable talent as a writer,” Gambit Editor Michael Tisserand and Intern Coordinator Eileen Loh-Harrist say in the letter accompanying Gambit’s application. “We look forward to working with her in developing skills in reporting and interviewing to enhance her narrative talent.”

Arellano is the son of Mexican immigrants and the first person in his family to graduate from high school and attend college. He is now a graduate student in Chicano Studies at UCLA. He has contributed to OC Weekly since his senior year at Chapman University, writing cover stories and investigative pieces, as well as music, film and even food reviews.

“He is a multi-talent, an increasingly sharp writer with a wicked sense of humor and boundless curiosity,” says Matt Coker, OC Weekly’s managing editor.

This is OC Weekly’s second AAN diversity grant. Vu Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American journalism student at Cal State Fullerton, received a grant for a summer 2001 intership.

Only two papers applied in this round, and the grants were automatically awarded to the two applying papers. Three member papers applied in the first round and five in the second.