Tinsley was an executive editor for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. He worked at the newspaper for more than 40 years. All recipients of the Jack B. Tinsley/Fort Worh Star-Telegram Scholarship will be designated as Tinsley Scholars while receiving the scholarship. Renewal status is determined by reapplication and student progress on a yearly basis and may be renewed through 4 years if awarded as a freshman or 2 years if awarded as a new transfer student.

• Applicants must be incoming freshmen or community college transfer students from either the defined 42-county geographic region of East Texas (see below), or from Tarrant County. Applicants must meet minimum entrance and continuing academic performance standards of the School of Journalism.
• Appliants must maintain full-time enrollment at UNT, unless they have fewer than twice the number of semester hours required to be full-time remaining in their individual degree program.
• Applicants must submit a written statement of financial need.
• Applicants must submit a brief letter from a teacher attesting to the applicant's need.
• Applicants must be currently enrolled for a minimum of 12 semester hours, have at least a 2.5 GPA and must be a news editorial major with the intent toward a career in consumer newspapers.
• Applicants who come from the Pineywoods area will be given preference. Those applicants would be defined as coming from the counties below.

42 COUNTIES DEFINED AS THE EAST TEXAS REGION