Eligibility: The Kent Flanagan Memorial Scholarship Fund will provide one or more scholarships for Tennessee students who are juniors or seniors in college or graduate students majoring in Journalism who have a B average or better. A recipient of this scholarship may reapply for the scholarship for an additional year.
Kent Flanagan was a respected member of the Associated Press “family” and a longtime open government advocate before his death in 2015. He dedicated his adult life to the journalistic pursuit of truth through fair, accurate, and unbiased reporting. After graduating with a double major in journalism and English Literature, Flanagan served four years in the Army as a public information officer, including a year in Vietnam. Early in his reporting career, he made stops at the Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel and San Antonio Express-News before joining the AP in 1979. Flanagan eventually was named Chief of Bureau for Tennessee in 1983, a post he held until his retirement in 2004. Family and friends established this Fund to provide scholarships to Tennessee students pursuing a degree in journalism as a tribute to Flanagan’s lifelong career as a journalist.