Two students, one from Omaha and one from McCook, are the 2025 winners of $1,000 scholarships awarded annually by the Nebraska Press Women (NPW), a statewide organization of women and men involved in all fields of professional communications.
Omaha native Josie Golka, a senior at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, will receive the NPW $1,000 Memorial Scholarship for upper class undergraduate or graduate students. Golka is an advertising and public relations major at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications with a minor in political science.
She is editor in chief of UNL’s student newspaper, the Daily Nebraskan. She has held leadership positions in her sorority and is a Clifton Strengths Coach, among her many other collegiate accomplishments. She covered state government issues as part of the Nebraska News Service and worked as a team lead mentoring younger news service reporters. Golka aspires to attend law school following graduation next spring.
In her application, she said: “I am excited to chase my dream of defending journalists and the First Amendment in courts and statehouses across the nation.”
The $1,000 Marianne Beel Scholarship, awarded to a graduating high school senior in the class of 2025, goes to Maryann Kassner of McCook. She is a freshman at the University of Nebraska at Kearney, where she is a diver on the UNK swim team.
In addition to serving as her high school yearbook and social media editor, she also interned at the McCook Gazette and was a medalist in the state journalism contest, among many other high school accomplishments. Moreover, she was a three-sport athlete, as a track and field pole vaulter, cross country runner and swim team diver.
In her scholarship application, Kassner said she always was “known as the ‘why’ child” and found in journalism a great fit for her curiosity. Her internship at the McCook Gazette showed her the power of journalism, she said, adding: “Journalism is more than a job to me—it’s a way to help people.”
The Marianne Beel Scholarship is named in memory of a longtime NPW member from Valentine, Nebraska, whose career reflected the value of local journalism.
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For more information, contact Mary Kay Quinlan, ohaeditor@gmail.com