Hornets To Award $10,000 Scholarship To North Carolina Journalism Student In Honor Of Longtime Charlotte Observer Beat Writer; Applications Online At hornets.com
September 14, 2022 – The Charlotte Hornets announced today that applications have opened on hornets.com for the second annual Rick Bonnell Memorial Scholarship. The Hornets launched the scholarship last season as part of the team’s efforts to honor the legacy and impact made on the organization, its fans and the city of Charlotte by former Charlotte Observer Hornets beat writer Rick Bonnell.
The Rick Bonnell Memorial Scholarship is an effort to continue Bonnell’s commitment to journalism, love of the NBA and passion for mentoring young reporters. The Charlotte Hornets Foundation will award $10,000 annually to a journalism student enrolled at a North Carolina college or university. Students can apply online starting today at hornets.com. Applications will be accepted until October 28. The winner will be selected by a panel consisting of Hornets staff members, former Charlotte Observer colleagues and Bonnell’s children, Jack and Claire.
Bonnell, an award-winning sportswriter for more than 33 years at the Charlotte Observer whose coverage of the Hornets spanned from the franchise’s inaugural 1988-89 season through the 2020-21 campaign, passed away on June 1, 2021, at the age of 63.
Last year’s inaugural Rick Bonnell Memorial Scholarship recipient, Noah Monroe, is a Concord, N.C. native and a junior at the University of North Carolina. Like Bonnell, Monroe began writing in high school, and he currently serves as a senior sportswriter for The Daily Tar Heel. Monroe plans to become a sports journalist after graduating.
In his application for the scholarship, Monroe described his desire to follow in his father’s footsteps. His father, David, managed Panthers.com, the official website of the Carolina Panthers, for 17 years and was once an aspiring journalist who shadowed Bonnell. A pediatric cancer survivor, Monroe shared a mantra that has guided him so far, and that he’ll continue to remember as he works toward his degree and a career in journalism like his father and Bonnell: “Never give up and don’t take anything for granted.”