April 2026 Gleanings
We're celebrating our scholarship winners! BIPC is returning to the Hilo Yacht Club for a festive evening May 28, featuring heavy pupus and an opportunity to hear from the 2026 winners of our annual scholarship event. Get your tickets now -- this one will sell out early.
Calling all BIPC members! You can get involved by joining committees to help us plan events, offering feedback and, of course, helping us sponsor scholarships for journalism and communications students. We're continuing our programs to promote openness in government and grow new journalists to keep us informed.
What's going on? We'd like more BIPC member highlights. We'd like to include more of you! Please send a blurb and photo to info@bigislandpressclub.org
Our monthly board meetings are continuing at 9 a.m. the first Saturday of every month via Zoom, and all BIPC members can attend our next one at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 2, by using this link: https://zoom.us/j/93755775071. Questions? Contact info@bigislandpressclub.org
Don't forget your dues! Only $25 annually and just $5 for students. We're in the midst of a webpage revamp, so our Givebutter charity site is filling in. Log on to https://givebutter.com/BIPCmembership for our simplified signup process.
Read on for more.
Sincerely, your Gleanings editor, Nancy Cook Lauer, nclauer@gmail.com
Tickets available now for BIPC's annual scholarship reception at Hilo Yacht Club
Join us at 5 p.m., Thursday, May 28, at the famed Hilo Yacht Club as we celebrate the 2026 Big Island Press Club Scholarship Foundation winners!
While noshing on a heavy assortment of pupus and desert, we will get acquainted with award-winning students representing several different schools that are seeking media related professions and have demonstrated a passion for storytelling.
Pupus include: Fresh Fruit Tray, Antipasto Marinated Grilled Veggies, Poke, Beef Teriyaki Sticks, Veggie Spring Roll, Short Rib Sliders and Assorted Desserts.
Iced water comes with the meal, other beverages available at additional cost.
Tickets are $50 for members and $70 for nonmembers. There's also space on the order form ofor a donation, minimum $25 if you'd like to contribute for scholarships.
We thank our generous donors who support scholarships! One of our most consistent is the $1,000 Bill Arballo Scholarship. Bill Arballo was a founding member of Big Island Press Club in 1967 and its first president. A former United Press International reporter, he is honored through a scholarship funded by an annual donation of $1,000 from Bill's daughter, Teresa Barth, and her husband, Bill. Arballo died in 2016.
Other scholarships are funded from the BIPC Foundation, started with donations from the Robert C. Miller Memorial Scholarship, Marcia Reynolds Scholarship, Yukino Fukubori Memorial Scholarship and Jack Markey Memorial Scholarship.
We're honored to continue these scholarships with the help of current and past donations from caring individuals.
Reserve your seats: https://www.bigislandpressclub.org/collect/description/702518-p-2026-bipc-scholarship-reception-5-8-p-m-thursday-may-28
2026 Big Island Press Club Board
Please feel free to contact any board members with your suggestions, or if you wish to volunteer!
President: Maya-Lin Green, education and communications team member, Pacific Islands Climate Adaptation Science Center <maya-lin@bigislandpressclub.org>
Vice President: Kevin Dayton, Civil Beat reporter, formerly with Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Hawaii Tribune-Herald. <kdayton@civilbeat.org>
Secretary: John Burnett, journalist, Tribune-Herald <jburnett@hawaiitribuneherald.com>
Treasurer: Nancy Cook Lauer, retired journalist, UHH student publications advisor, blogger www.allhawaiinews.com <nclauer@gmail.com>
Immediate Past President: Tiffany Edwards Hunt, former journalist, middle school teacher <newswoman@mac.com>
Director: Patsy Iwasaki, professor, University of Hawaii-Hilo
<piwasaki@hawaii.edu>
Director: John Atwell, former CIA Senior Operations Officer, University of Hawaii-Hilo instructor, columnist, editor <jno.p.atwell@gmail.com>
Director: Peter Serafin. Journalist/writer/broadcaster at Golden Angel Studio. Former editor of Hawaii Island Journal. <peter@goldenangel.org>
Director: Ross Wilson, PR, Current Events <rossw@current-events.com>
Director Emeritus: Robert Duerr, filmmaker and journalist, Hawaii Fishing News <surf77@me.com>
Board Adjunct: Laila Moiré-Selvage: Founder/Manager at Coconut City Creative, Media Director at Action For Nature <laila@bigislandpressclub.org>
