The Inter-American Press Association (IAPA) Scholarship Fund was born in 1954 with the purpose of financing postgraduate studies in the field of journalism, communication or a related area in a Latin American country, the United States or Canada.
It was created 12 years after the IAPA was officially established in 1942, so that journalists can have adequate academic training. Since then, more than 400 journalists from the Americas have benefited from the IAPA Scholarships.
The Scholarship Fund sustained since its creation with the voluntary and generous contribution of foundations, media members of the institution, organizations and individuals. It does not receive donations from governments. Currently, it has an investment fund that provides contributions for scholarships awarded annually.
Since 2019, after the IAPA Bylaws reform, a Scholarship Committee manages the scholarship, and the president of the Institution elects the chairperson of the committee. Previously, the Scholarship Fund was an autonomous organization.
From its foundation, the Scholarship Fund has been led by visionaries of the hemispheric journalism field, including: William H. Cowles, Cowles Company, Spokane, Washington; Harold Fitzgerald, The New York Times, New York, N.Y .; Robert U. Brown, Editor & Publisher, New York, N.Y .; Rodolfo Junco de la Vega, El Norte, Monterrey, Mexico; Charles Scripps, Hugh Patterson, A. Roy Megarry, The Globe and Mail, Toronto, Canada; Alejandro Aguirre, Diario Las Américas, Miami, Florida; Jaime Mantilla, Hoy, Quito, Ecuador; Paul Scripps, E.W. Scripps Co. San Diego, California; Jaime Sirotsky, RBS Group, Porto Alegre, Brazil; Jorge Andrés Saieh, La Tercera, Santiago, Chile; Gerardo García Gamboa, Novedades de Merida, Merida, Mexico; Juan Luis Correa, La Estrella / El Siglo, Panama; María Catalina Saieh, Copesa, Santiago, Chile; Gilberto Urdaneta, El Regional del Zulia, Ciudad Ojeda, Venezuela.
More than 400 men and women journalists from the Americas have benefited from the program.