The New Zealand Radio Broadcasting Company was formed in 1925, and laid the foundations for what has become RNZ, New Zealand’s public-service radio broadcaster. To celebrate the milestone RNZ is offering five scholarships worth up to $8000 each, to support up and coming journalists.

The one-off scholarships are open to students studying for a journalism degree or having journalism as a major in New Zealand only and will go towards covering one year of tuition fees applied to the 2026 academic year. Recipients will be determined by the individual journalism course leaders with RNZ providing criteria for selection. They will also be offered an internship in an RNZ newsroom, mentoring from a senior journalist and training with RNZ’s Director of Editorial Quality.

RNZ chief executive and editor-in chief Paul Thompson said:

“The scholarships reflect RNZ’s ongoing commitment to the craft of journalism and the importance of bringing through the next generation of journalists.

It’s not easy to be a journalist in 2025, the world is swimming in content and opinions, yet this makes the work journalists do more important than ever.

Verified professional reporting and informed analysis are a tool we can all use to make sense of the noise.”

JEANZ president Greg Treadwell said:

“Journalism educators around the country will welcome the opportunity to be part of celebrating 100 years of public broadcasting and look forward to having the successful applicants in class.

It’s more than a great opportunity for the students, though. It’s an important affirmation of journalism as a career at a time when it is under extreme pressure financially and politically.

Here’s to the next 100 years.”

More information can be found here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/RNZ100Scholarships