Each year, the Swedish Women's Educational Association (SWEA) in New York awards one or several scholarships, depending on the applicant pool. In return, recipients commit to providing a report to SWEA New York on how the award was used — either in writing or by giving a presentation. Since 2014, SWEA New York’s scholarship has been awarded in fond memory of Mona Johnsson, who was a founder and active member of SWEA New York.
SWEA New York Mona Johnsson Scholarship is given to support a person or an organization with ties to New York in their studies or their efforts to advance/share knowledge of Swedish culture, traditions, language, history, or society.
To be considered for the scholarship, an applicant must:
- Have connections with New York and Sweden
- Have concrete plans for how to use the scholarship
- Commit to providing a report on how the scholarship was used, for instance by writing an article or giving a presentation to SWEA New York
- If applicable, have established contact with the university, institution or organization where s/he will study
- Both women and men are encouraged to apply
- SWEA members and their families cannot apply
In 2015, the SWEA New York Mona Johnson Scholarship was awarded to two organizations: Swedish Jamestown which works to promote Swedish culture and language to children in western New York, and the Nordic International Film Festival. The two scholarship winners each received $1,500.

Last year's awardees:
Nordic International Film Festival held its first festival in 2015 at Scandinavia House in New York City. Over 500 filmmakers attended the event and many flew in from Sweden, Denmark and Norway, from other parts of the U.S. and other countries. NIFF's goal is to promote Nordic films on the international market and help independent filmmakers filming in the Nordic countries, and vice versa. The grant will be used to give filmmakers more channels to present their work and will increase the exposure of Swedish culture to people in the New York area. This year's festival will take place over three days on October 28, 29 and 30. For more info, see www.nordicfilmfest.org

Swedish Jamestown, run by Maria Malmström and Susanna Ecklof, promotes Swedish culture and language to children in western New York. The Scholarship Committee of SWEA New York feels the initiative is a good way to ensure the influence of Swedish culture in an area that was once one of the largest Swedish settlements in North America. Swedish Jamestown will use the scholarship for programs related to Swedish culture. Participants are children ages 0-18 who have Swedish ancestry or an interested in Swedish culture. The programs focus on language, traditions, history, geography, literature, nature and culinary traditions to preserve Swedish culture to future generations. For more info, search SwedishJamestown on Facebook.

The application deadline for 2016 is December 16. The scholarship awardee(s) will be notified in early January and is expected to receive the scholarship at SWEA New York’s Annual Meeting in February 2017.
Link for the application: http://newyork.swea.org/swea-new-york-stipendium/
For more information, or to submit your application: sweanyscholarship@gmail.com

SWEA, the Swedish Women’s Educational Association, is a global non-profit organization for Swedish and Swedish-speaking women who are living or have lived outside Sweden. SWEA’s mission includes supporting and raising awareness of the Swedish language, culture and traditions. SWEA supports education through scholarships and other projects. The organization was founded in 1979 in Los Angeles by Agneta Nilsson and has grown to consist of 7,500 members among over 70 chapters in 33 countries around the world. The New York chapter of SWEA was established in 1983 and has approximately 200 members. Mona Johnsson was one of the founders of SWEA New York, and remained a very active and involved member until her death in 2014.