The USA Rice Federation is sponsoring its annual National Rice Month (NRM) scholarship contest this September for high school juniors and seniors whose families are directly involved in the rice industry in the six major rice-growing states of Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas.
To qualify for a USA Rice NRM Scholarship, students must run promotional campaigns in their local communities during September with U.S.-grown rice as the central theme.
Nine scholarship prizes totaling $10,000 are available. The grand prize is a $3,500 scholarship. The winner and a chaperone will also receive an expense-paid trip to the 2008 USA Rice Outlook Conference, December 7-9, in Little Rock, Arkansas for the scholarship presentation. Additional prizes are: second place, $2,000; third place, $1,500; fourth place, $1,000; fifth place, $750; and sixth place, $500. Three honorable mention prizes of $250 each also are available.
Initiated by an act of Congress in 1991, September marks the 18th annual NRM celebration. For more information and a scholarship contest entry form, see the Industry Affairs page on www.usarice.com, or call Randy Jemison at (337) 738-7009 or Chuck Wilson at (870) 673-7541.
