The Australian Film Television & Radio School (AFTRS) has announced the recipients of five merit-based scholarships in partnership with industry, including the first Glenn Daniel Smooth FM Scholarship.
That 2023 scholarship, in honour of radio journalist and podcast professional Glenn Daniel, is given towards helping develop Australian radio, news and journalism talent, and was awarded to Alana Calvert.
The recipient of the 2023 Pariya Taherzadeh Radio Scholarship is Sarah Young.
Pariya Taherzadeh is an AFTRS alumna in podcasting and radio who herself benefited from the AFTRS scholarship program.
She said:
“The last few years has been extremely hard for a lot of people and this was my way of giving back. Receiving the Selwyn Speight Excellence Scholarship helped enormously for me to be able to both study and pay bills. Both would not have been possible without it. I have experienced the benefits of how the Scholarship impacted my career in a positive way and I wanted to give the same opportunity to someone else.”
The 2023 recipient of the ABC Selwyn Speight Excellence Radio Scholarship, Ben Lewis, will be interning at the ABC as part of his program.
The two recipients of the 2023 Women in Cinematography Scholarship, supported by Sony, are Hiruni Dharmasena and Jacqueline Sharah, both currently studying the Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production. Sophie Blanch has been awarded the 2023 Onbass Gentle Giant Scholarship for students commencing the Bachelor of Arts Screen: Production, who show creative excellence and who also require financial assistance to study at AFTRS.