Sixteen scholarships totaling $27,500 were awarded to 16 Daily Texan staff members at the recent Friends of The Daily Texan Hall of Fame gathering.
The awards ranged from $1,000 to $2,500 for the recipients.
The Friends of The Daily Texan offered its first grant to one student: $1,500 in 2018.
Since then, the number of grants awarded has grown to 16 provided this year.
“An important item about these 16 scholarships is that all are fully endowed,” said Friends president John Reetz. “They will outlive us all, and will serve as a reminder to future Texan student journalists of the support of Daily Texan ‘graduates’ of previous years.”
The Friends group’s drive to permanently fund the scholarships started three years ago with a goal of $300,000, but the endowment has now grown to $600,000.
“We met our first goal, and doubled it, and we are still looking to grow our endowment to provide additional scholarships and increase the amount provided to students,“ Reetz added.
If you would like to donate, you may do so here: https://friendsdailytexan.wildapricot.org/donate
Meet the 2026 Daily Texan scholarship winners:
$1,000 John McConnico and Jean-Marc Bouju Faculty Recognition Awards
Ana Salgado Soberanes
After five semesters at The Daily Texan, journalism sophomore Ana Salgado now works as a senior designer. She leverages her artistic background and multimedia skills to innovate The Texan’s spreads. A Mexico City native, Ana speaks Spanish fluently and has a 1,059-day streak on Duolingo in Italian. She taught herself how to play the piano and to create digital art. She loves live music more than anything in the world. Outside of The Texan, Ana has been involved in Afterglow ATX, Hook’d Magazine and SXSW.
Valeria Mota
Valeria is a marketing junior with a minor in journalism and media from Monterrey, Mexico. She is the social media editor at The Texan and has worked there six semesters. Within one month of her contributions, The Texan’s Instagram gained 1,200 followers. In the future, Valeria is interested in pursuing marketing or social media within journalism or the music industry. She has a dog named Fiona (named after Fiona Apple and Fiona from Shrek) and a cat named Phoebe (named after Phoebe Bridgers and Phoebe Buffay from Friends).
$1,000 Dave McNeely Excellence in Public Affairs Reporting Award
Diego Hernandez
Diego is a journalism and government sophomore. With five semesters under his belt, Diego now works as a news desk editor. Diego’s coverage includes Trump’s higher education compact, the redrawn Texas congressional map and ICE recruiting tactics. He’s a born-and-raised, proud Austinite. In his spare time, he enjoys reading, drawing and biking. But most important of all, he’s amassed a large online following as “Cerealzzz” — he uploads videos of himself eating cereal on YouTube.
$1,000 David Powell Award for Excellence in Public Affairs Reporting
Caris Gray
Senior opinion columnist Caris Gray is an anthropology, government and philosophy student graduating in 2027. She has reported solely on politics and public policy, with topics ranging from Austin’s Prop Q to Texas Senate Bill 8. In her free time, she loves to create constructed languages, specifically for video games such as Legend of Zelda or Stardew Valley. She recently started working at an immigration law firm to distribute free legal resources to immigrants throughout Central Texas.
$1,000 Dean Sen. Judith Zaffirini Excellence in Public Service Reporting Award
Charles Partheymuller
Currently associate photo editor, journalism junior Charles Partheymuller has been on staff for seven semesters. Recently, he covered every football game for The Texan’s Friday print issues. He now loves being able to introduce new photographers to football games, advise general staffers and help put together the paper on production nights. He also loves being from Austin and particularly enjoys all the Tex-Mex spots and barbecue joints nearby.
$1,000 Pratima Kiran Shah Award
Alex Leisk
Alex is a journalism junior working as a news desk editor, general photographer and general projects reporter. His reporting has covered DACA benefits and the impacts of visa revocations and status changes. Alex is an identical twin, and his twin also goes to UT. He is interested in newswriting, feature/fashion writing, photojournalism, and Austin music and culture. He loves live music and concerts — if he weren’t in the news department, he would’ve joined Life&Arts.
$1,000 John Reetz Excellence in Journalism Award
Taylor Garza
Taylor is a neuroscience student minoring in journalism who will graduate in 2027. She has worked at The Texan for seven semesters and is the copy desk chief. She also works at the College of Pharmacy as a student technician. She played soccer for 10 years before college and still likes to watch professional games, and she enjoys watching Texas softball and volleyball. Her cat Honey Blossom is one year old. Taylor hopes to have a future in medicine and journalism, keeping people informed in both industries.
$1,250 G.R.I.T. Award
Justin Doud
Photo editor Justin Doud is a journalism and government junior who’s worked at The Texan for eight semesters. As a general projects reporter, Justin was the first to report on a former UT professor who requested thousands of dollars from the Jeffrey Epstein Foundation. He loves reading and hiking, is a national parks buff and stand-up comedy fan, and has an unhealthy obsession with politics. He’s interned with Houston Public Media and the Texas Standard, and is TSTV’s news director.
$1,500 Jerry and Becky Conn Scholarship Award
Brian Murray
Associate manager editor Brian Murray is a journalism sophomore from San Antonio, Texas. He has been with the Texan for five semesters, working in Life&Arts, copy, projects and management. As a reporter, he attended concerts, robot parades and raves, and he covered enforcement of Texas’ Campus Protection Act. Brian’s favorite movie is “The Emperor’s New Groove,” and his favorite food is lasagna.
$2,500 Kirk and Vicki Bohls Sports Journalism Award
Ysa Mendoza
Ysa is a journalism and communication and leadership sophomore working as a sports reporter and an associate photo editor. She is a Rio Grande Valley native. Ysa has contributed coverage for a range of stories from a San Antonio Spurs game to multiple protests. She often finds perspectives in unconventional places, straying away from the action to see a fan in distress or who was hit by Vic Schaffer’s coat jacket after a bad call. Outside of The Texan, Ysa is also a photographer for UT RecSports and the Policy Chair for Moody College Communication Council.
$2,500 Lynne Dobson and Greg Wooldridge Photojournalism Award
Naina Srivastava
Naina is a junior majoring in journalism and American studies. After seven semesters, she is currently the Texan’s projects editor, and she’s previously served as the photo editor. She’s also an editorial intern at Texas Monthly. While photo editor, she made music opportunities more accessible, encouraged the use of photo galleries, photo stories and embeds alongside written stories, and pushed for multimedia collaborations. This summer, Naina will work as a breaking news intern at the Houston Chronicle.
$2,500 A. R. “Dick” Elam Award
Erika Pernis
After six semesters in the news department, journalism junior Erika Pernis is now serving as associate managing editor. She’s written over 60 articles and covered topics from academic freedom to Austin’s first total solar eclipse since 1397. Erika is also a digital content and campaigns intern at UT Computer Science and a communications assistant with Texas Robotics. She’s passionate about environmental and public safety reporting and making information accessible to all communities.
$2,500 Middy Randerson Life and Arts Award
Ana Taveira
English and advertising senior Ana Taveira has been with The Texan for five semesters and is the current Life&Arts editor. Alongside her love of writing, she’s also a radio DJ at KVRX 91.7 (part of Texas Student Media at UT) and 103.5 BOB FM. She collects CDs, a favorite being a Radiohead CD signed by Guy Fieri and a signed copy of Die Spitz’s “Teeth.” Ana would love to sit down with Patti Smith, Anthony Bourdain, Henry David Thoreau or David Lynch.
$2,500 S. Griff Singer Award
Isaiah Williams
Isaiah Williams is a business honors and Plan II sophomore who’s worked at The Texan for five semesters. He is currently an associate news editor. He is extremely interested in political reporting and elections. Isaiah has one focus for his future coverage: As the politics of this country shift, how will this campus respond? At McCombs, he hopes to specialize in accounting. More importantly, he is a chicken wing fanatic.
$2,500 Rene and Jimmy Wisch Award
Maryam Ahmed
Maryam is a third-year journalism student from Dallas who’s worked at The Texan for seven semesters. She is the news editor. Her eventual goal is to be an investigative reporter at an outlet such as ProPublica, and she says The Texan has been key in helping her develop the skills to get there. As a reporter, she covered free speech, the fall of diversity, equity and inclusion policies, as well as Islamophobia and antisemitism on campus. As passionate as she is about reporting, she is also a juggler and henna artist.
$2,500 Friends of The Texan Award Winner
Mazzy Warren
Mazzy is a journalism and English sophomore from South Austin. After five semesters, she has worked her way up from the newsletter and projects departments to leading as director of digital strategy. She’s in charge of managing the digital departments, directing online presence and growing print/digital multimedia collaborations. Mazzy absolutely loves reading and writing. She once read 104 books in one year (over 36,000 pages). When she’s not reading, she loves to listen to music and talk to her twin brother, Clyde.