ARLINGTON, VA – The annual National Rice Month (NRM) Scholarship contest has received a major update this year, and while the focus is the same – creating awareness for U.S.-grown rice – the methods are moving into the 21
st Century.
“The reality is we live in the age where almost everyone has a camera in their pocket, and in some cases, those cameras are more powerful and advanced than the cameras used to create some of our favorite Hollywood classics,” said Michael Klein, vice president of Marketing, Communications, & Domestic Promotion for USA Rice. “Image-centric social media platforms are driving communication today, and we use photos and videos throughout National Rice Month. We thought it was high time we brought a little of that to the scholarship contest.”
Scholarship contest entrants are encouraged to use video and photography to tell the story of U.S. grown rice. Creative students can also use PowerPoint, Prezi, or any visual presentation tool, so long as the total run time of the piece does not exceed three minutes.
High school graduating students from rice-growing states -- Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, and Texas -- are eligible for the three scholarship prizes, sponsored by Dow AgroSciences, totaling $8,500.
The grand-prize winner will receive a $4,000 scholarship and a trip with a chaperone this December to the awards ceremony at the 2016 USA Rice Outlook Conference in Memphis, Tennessee. The second-place winner will receive $3,000 scholarship, and third-place $1,500.
Contest entries will be judged on creativity, quality, popularity, and effectiveness in promoting U.S.-grown rice, NRM, and the importance of rice in the student’s state. Sample topics include: rice production, nutrition, sustainability, and marketing/promotion.
“We are thrilled Dow AgroSciences is again sponsoring this scholarship program,” says USA Rice President & CEO Betsy Ward. “National Rice Month is a time for America to salute its rice farmers and everyone involved in the U.S. rice industry, and we can’t wait to see how creative students get with their entries for the revamped scholarship contest.”
Entries are due October 31.
For more information and to submit an entry, visit the NRM scholarship page.