Louisiana Students Can Earn Money the Rice Way

Deborah Willenborg, USA Rice

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!  

If you're a high school graduating student from Arkansas, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, or Texas, submit a three-minute video that creates awareness and promotes U.S.-grown rice, September National Rice Month, and the importance of rice to your state.

Entries will be judged on creativity, quality, popularity, and effectiveness in promoting U.S.-grown rice.  Sample topics include:  rice production, nutrition (think about incorporating USDA's MyPlate MyState), sustainability, marketing/promotion ... the list goes on! 

Three scholarship prizes, sponsored by Corteva Agriscience, totaling $8,500 will be awarded.  The grand-prize winner will receive a $4,000 scholarship and a trip with a chaperone this December to the awards ceremony at the 2018 USA Rice Outlook Conference in San Diego, California.  The second-place winner will receive a $3,000 scholarship, and third-place $1,500.

Last year's grand prize winner, Jared Fitton, a self-proclaimed computer science nerd who graduated from the Santa Barbara High School Computer Science Academy in California, tapped into his technology skills to create a stop-motion video to help tell the U.S. rice story. 

"I wanted to think outside the box, and find an interesting and entertaining way to promote awareness of one of American's favorite grains," said Fitton.  

Entries are due by October 31. 

For more information and to submit an entry, visit the NRM scholarship page.

don molino