Karina Ioffe, who graduated in December 2009, has become the first recipient from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism of a prestigious Overseas Press Club Foundation Scholarship. She received the $2,000 award at the Foundation’s 2010 annual scholarship luncheon held at the Yale Club in New York City on February 19th. Lionel Barber, editor of the Financial Times, was the guest speaker.

Ioffee was among 12 aspiring foreign correspondents selected by a panel of leading journalists from a pool of 200 applicants from 65 colleges and universities. Her winning essay described the economic near-collapse of the one-factory Russian town, Yasnogorsk. Many industries that thrived in the Soviet era have gone bankrupt, leaving local populations in despair.

Ioffee won the H.L. Stevenson Scholarship, named for the legendary United Press International editor-in-chief. The scholarship winners were also honored with a reception at Reuters, toured Associated Press headquarters, and rang the closing bell at the Nasdaq stock exchange.

The OPC Foundation is the nation’s largest and most visible scholarship program encouraging aspiring journalists to pursue careers as foreign correspondents.