ARLINGTON, VA – If you’re thinking about how to pay for college next year -- Think Rice -- because the National Rice Month (NRM) Scholarship video contest is here. And it’s easy to participate!
Open to graduating high school students from Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, or Texas, the contest asks students to create a video that in three minutes or less, shines a light on this versatile, tasty, home-grown grain. “Educate, entertain, and tell us why you think rice is special – to you, to your state, or to the world,” says the contest website,
ReelRiceContest.com.
Three guaranteed scholarship prizes, sponsored by the American Commodity Company (ACC), totaling $10,000 will be awarded. The grand-prize winner will receive a $5,000 scholarship and a trip with a chaperone to the annual USA Rice Outlook Conference, the second-place winner receives a $3,000 scholarship, and third place receives $2,000.
“The video scholarship contest is an excellent program and we’re happy to support it through The Rice Foundation,” said ACC President & CEO Chris Crutchfield. “It not only helps students pursue their higher education goals, but it also helps spread the word about the impact of the U.S. rice industry. These young filmmakers research our industry and end up sharing all the great things we’re doing. We’re looking forward to another wave of creative videos in 2021.”
Last year’s grand prize winner, Molly Ellis, graduated from McKinney Boyd High School in McKinney, Texas, and is headed to the University of Texas in Arlington this fall. Her video on the history of Katy, Texas, was told in documentary-style weaving a narrative of the town from its origins as a rural rice farming community to a growing city that still features rice dryers, street signs named after rice farmers, and an annual rice festival that celebrates the town’s heritage.
“I love making and editing videos, and when I began seeking out scholarship competitions, I came across the National Rice Month Scholarship,” said Ellis. “I checked out the contest website and got lots of information and tips on how to make a great video. I was able to apply experience I got working in my school’s audio/visual program to first craft the story, then shoot the video, and finally edit it all together for my three-minute entry.”
Ellis appeared as a guest on
Episode 12 of the USA Rice podcast,
The Rice Stuff, where she talked about how she found the scholarship online and tapped some family history to make the rice connection that became the inspiration for her video.
Entries are judged on creativity, quality, and effectiveness in telling a story about U.S.-grown rice, and are due by October 31.