USA Rice Federation Calls for Scholarship Entries

High School Students Can Promote National Rice Month and Vie for Cash Prizes this September

WASHINGTON, August 4, 2005 — The USA Rice Federation is sponsoring a National Rice Month (NRM) scholarship contest in September for high school juniors and seniors whose families are directly involved in the rice industry. With the start of the school year approaching, now is a great time for students to begin brainstorming and planning their promotions.

To qualify to win a USA Rice NRM Scholarship, students must run a promotion in their local community during September with U.S.-grown rice as the central theme.

“I never imagined how much promoting the rice industry could open doors for my future,” said 2004 national grand-prize winner Melissa LaCour, daughter of rice farmers from Vermilion Parish, LA. “I believe that my promotion has opened my eyes to the broadness of the rice industry — outside of just rice farming.”

The contest will be held in the six major rice-growing states: Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas. A first and second place winner from each state will be selected and awarded $1,000 and $500 respectively.

A national grand-prize winner will be selected from the first place state winners and will receive a total scholarship award of $2,000. The national winner also wins an expense-paid trip in December with the recipient’s chaperone to the USA Rice Outlook Conference in Austin, TX, for the scholarship presentation.

Initiated by an act of Congress in 1991, September marks the fifteenth annual National Rice Month celebration when America salutes its rice farmers.

For more information, tips on planning NRM promotions and a scholarship application, visit: http://www.usarice.com/industry/communication/ricemonth.html.

Randy Jemison, (337) 738-7009, rjemison@usarice.com

Chuck Wilson, (870) 673-7541, cwilson@usarice.com

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USA Rice Federation is the national advocate for all segments of the rice industry, conducting activities to influence government programs, developing and initiating programs to increase worldwide demand for U.S. rice, and providing other services to increase profitability for all industry segments.