Boyd’s Station Announces 2026 Mary Withers Rural Writing Fellowship Winner
HARRISON COUNTY, KY — Boyd’s Station is pleased to announce Nikole Valiente as the recipient of the 2026 Mary Withers Rural Writing Fellowship. This annual $3,000 grant supports one college journalist to spend the summer writing long-form news articles about Harrison County, Kentucky, in partnership with the Louisville Courier Journal.
Nikole is a senior at Florida International University (FIU) in Miami, Florida, scheduled to graduate in December 2026 with a bachelor's degree in digital journalism. She is currently a writing intern at Caplin News, an FIU news publication. She previously served as Editor-in-Chief of The Reporter, the student newspaper of Miami Dade College, and won the school's Excellence in Journalism Award in 2024.
"Having the opportunity to report on the stories of Harrison County is a blessing," Nikole said. "I can't wait to immerse myself in the community, get to know new people and understand what matters to them."
She will begin documenting Harrison County on May 26.
Nikole is the 7th winner of the Mary Withers Rural Writing Fellowship. Past fellows have gone on to become professional journalists for the Associated Press, Arizona Republic, and the Quad-City Times, and continue returning to Boyd's Station to support each year's fellowship winner.