Cuyler Dunn receives White House Correspondents' Association Scholarship

LAWRENCE – Cuyler Dunn has spent the last few years covering local stories for The Lawrence Times, Kansas Reflector, Eudora Times and Kansas City PBS. In that time, he’s worked alongside Caroline Zimmerman and Matthew Petillo, two former KU School of Journalism & Mass Communications students who received the White House Correspondents’ Association Scholarship (WHCA).    

Now, Dunn, a junior, is following in their footsteps. He is the 2025 University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications WHCA Scholarship recipient.

“It was something I was really hoping for, and it’s not an experience a lot of people my age get to have,” Dunn said. “I’m grateful that KU has that relationship, because not a lot of colleges do. It’s just super cool.”

In addition to financial assistance, Dunn will travel to the annual WHCA dinner in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, April 26, be featured at a scholarship luncheon on Friday, April 25, and be paired with Steve Holland, a White House correspondent for Reuters and a former WHCA president, for a year of mentoring.

Although Dunn’s official entrance into the world of reporting came as a high school journalist, his introduction to journalism came at a much younger age.

“My friends and I would make neighborhood newspapers on construction paper,” Dunn said. “As a kid, I always wanted to be a sportswriter. I would make up games and write about what happened.”

Although the games he wrote about were fictitious, Dunn’s passion for storytelling blossomed.

“I think that’s where I started to fall in love with the drama of the news,” Dunn said. “Being a journalist is cool. You get to take that overview approach of ‘what’s really happening’ and help people understand that.”

Dunn credits his high school journalism advisor, Barbara Tholen, who will take over as the Kansas Scholastic Press Association executive director in August 2025, for getting and keeping him involved in scholastic journalism despite his busy schedule.

“I learned a lot from Barb and my fellow staffers,” Dunn said. “One thing about journalism is you learn the most by just doing the work. It was super helpful to write stories and cover protests. I feel pretty lucky that I had so much hands-on experience in high school.”

That hands-on experience showed Dunn, who is a political science minor at KU, that he enjoyed writing about public policies and how they affect people.

Dunn closely covered school closings that occurred in the Lawrence school district for The Lawrence Times. He attended board meetings, talked to families and teachers, and wrote a three-part series of stories analyzing what the budget data suggested about why the closings happened and how those cuts helped the district resolve those budget issues. A year after the closings, he wrote a story where he spoke to impacted families.

They weren’t necessarily happy stories, Dunn recalls, but they were necessary. They also served as affirmation that he was heading in the right direction in his path as a journalist.    

“I definitely could see myself in Washington, D.C., one day,” Dunn said. “That would be pretty cool. I would also love working in a state house and even in city halls. I love reporting on policies, what government institutions are doing and really helping readers understand how that affects people.”

Dunn recently traveled to D.C. for the first time over spring break with a group of KU JMC students who reported on how human trafficking is made worse by corruption. He’s eager for a return trip and the opportunity to bump shoulders with his “journalism heroes.”

“Going to the press briefing room and the White House Correspondents’ dinner is something not a lot of journalists get to do,” Dunn said. “It’d be cool to get back to those rooms later as a professional, but who knows? It’s one of those experiences that I don’t take for granted, and I’m very excited for.”

The partnership with the University of Kansas was created in 2020. The scholarship at the JMC School is designed for students who excel at media information management. The student winners will have reputations for accuracy in fact-checking and the ability to access databases, government documents, and personal sources. In addition, the students will excel at using methods of dissemination of information, including use of traditional and social media. The WHCA and the school both contribute to the grant.