The Alpha Omega Council honors its late founder, Peter Agris, by presenting the Peter Agris Memorial Awards annually to several Greek Americans pursuing studies in the fields of journalism and communications.
Established and conducted in cooperation with the Agris family, the program was established in 1993 and has provided $900,000 in critical funding to 170 deserving graduate and undergraduate students, creating the only network of Greek American media professionals in the United States.
Peter Agris was the founder and publisher of The Hellenic Chronicle, for fifty years the premier Greek American national English-language weekly newspaper in the United States. An Archon of the Greek Orthodox Church, he was a trustee of Hellenic College/Holy Cross School of Theology, Anatolia College, and The American College of Greece. Also a proud Ahepan, Mr. Agris worked tirelessly throughout his life to promote his Hellenic heritage and Orthodox faith in America and to improve relations between the United States and Greece.
Criteria for Scholarship candidates include:
- Hellenic ancestry and United States citizenship
- Current full-time enrollment as a journalism or communications major at the graduate or undergraduate level at an accredited college or university
- Work and internship experience in the journalism or communications fields and active participation in school, community, and church organizations
- A minimum of a 3.0 GPA and demonstrated financial need
The $5,000 non-renewable annual scholarships are presented at The Alpha Omega Council’s Annual Lifetime Achievement Award Banquet held annually in the Fall.
This Year's Recipients
FOTINI ANASTOPOULOS is an MBA candidate at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management with a focus on communications. A graduate of Harvard University, Fotini holds a degree in Psychology with a secondary field in Modern Greek. Recognized as a Harvard Convocation Speaker, Silver Congressional Award recipient, and President’s Volunteer Award recipient, she also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Yearbook, President of the Hellenic Society, Chair of Winthrop House, Director of Hasty Pudding Theatricals, Chair of An Evening with Champions, Director of the Modern Dance Company, and Outreach Director for Harvard Women in Business. She also worked at Digital4Startups, a digital media agency in Chicago, and currently serves as Director of Communications for the PanHellenic Scholarship Foundation. From Norridge, IL, Fotini is a first-generation student and the daughter of Andromachi Anastopoulos of Athens, Greece, and the late Panagiotis Anastopoulos of Doxa, Greece.
CHRISTIAN ANDRIOLAS is a senior at the University of Maryland, majoring in journalism with a minor in business. Christian has worked for the award-winning student newspaper The Diamondback, covering several sports teams on UMD’s campus, and interned at amNewYork last summer. He covered local sports teams through print and video content while operating the newspaper’s social media accounts. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of another sports-focused student newspaper at UMD. Christian is the son of Antonios and Daria Andriolas of Milford, CT.
TYLER DAVIS is a recent graduate from Boston University, earning a degree in journalism, with a special interest in sports broadcasting. Throughout his time at BU, he served as the poetry editor for The BU Buzz, a soccer beat writer for WTBU, and co-producer of Terrier Nation, which recently won a Student Production Award for best “College/University Sports Program” from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Boston/New England Chapter. He also has worked as a broadcast production assistant for BU sports broadcasts and as a marketing intern for Mass Poetry and D50 Media, which provides critical resource information for compromised communities. Tyler is the son of Scott and Lisa Davis of East Hartford, CT.
MARIA MANOUSAKIS is a senior at the University of Utah, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Communication with an emphasis in Science, Health, Environment and Risk Communication. A member of the John R. Park Debate Society, she represented Team USA in the Committee for International Dialogue and the Debate of the National Communication Association and has competed nationally in forensics as an Octafinalist in Extemporaneous and Impromptu Speaking. Maria has served as a Communication Intern with the Utah Department of Health and Human Services, contributing to public health communication and media projects, and with Tunlaw Strategies, conducting research and communications work. She is also involved with the Daughters of Penelope and the Minotavros Chapter of the Pancretan Youth of America, promoting Hellenic culture, education, and community engagement. Maria is the daughter of George and Katherine Manousakis of Salt Lake City, Utah.
CALISTA SYBRANT is a senior at the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism pursuing a degree in Journalism with a minor in Law and Society. She has served as a legal intern at the Appellate Court of Maryland and at Baltimore Witness, reporting on Baltimore’s criminal justice system by covering court proceedings and writing stories on homicides and non-fatal shooting cases. She has been a Teaching Assistant for courses in American Government and Politics and Citizenship and Naturalization in America, and is a member of Alpha Phi and Phi Alpha Delta. Calista is also the Philip Merrill College of Journalism Representative for the University Senate for the 2026-27 year. Calista is the daughter of Tom and Vasileah Kyros Sybrant of Mount Airy, MD.
THEODORA TSEVAS is completing a Master of Arts in Media and Public Relations at the University of Leicester, UK. She is a correspondent for Kathimerini, covering the Greek American diaspora in Boston and New York; and a contributor to Estiator Magazine, the national magazine for the Greek-American food industry, where she also writes her own column, Made in Greece, highlighting Greek companies that have found their way to the US market. Her bylines have appeared in To Vima, HuffPost Greece, Atlas Obscura, the Greek National Tourism Organization, The LuxxeMag, and her reporting has been cited in Boston Magazine. Theodora is based between Athens, Greece, and Boston, MA, and is the daughter of John Tsevas of Athens, Greece, and Vasso Tsaniklides of Dedham, MA.