A new fund honouring the legacy of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh has been established by Carleton University’s School of Journalism and Communication.

The Shireen Abu Akleh Emerging Reporter Fund in Social Justice Journalism will be supported by an endowment recently established at Carleton.

As a trailblazer for journalists internationally and a role model for young reporters, Abu Akleh relentlessly pursued stories about the lives of Palestinians living under occupation, often at great personal risk.

The story is told again and again of young women standing in front of the mirror, holding a hairbrush as a microphone as they emulated Abu Akleh’s style and famous sign-off for Al Jazeera.

With the permission of Abu Akleh’s family, and the support of initial donors Shawky Fahel, Maher Arar and Monia Mazigh, Carleton’s journalism program has established this new award.

Different from other scholarships, students who want to be considered for the Shireen Abu Akleh Emerging Reporter Fund in Social Justice Journalism will submit a proposal for a journalism project they would like to undertake that would shed light on an important social justice issue.

Representatives of Abu Akleh’s family strongly supported the proposal for the fund.

“The family believes it is very important to enshrine her legacy going forward,’’ Shireen’s brother Tony Abu Akleh said. “Such scholarships will maintain her legacy, will maintain her name and I’m sure people will be interested to know about her achievements, her journalism, her death – all these issues.”

The endowment will create a new opportunity for journalism students at the senior undergraduate and graduate levels to receive funding to explore stories related to social justice.