Scholarships available for communications students The Jersey Shore Public Relations and Advertising Association announces its 2006 James R. McCormick Memorial Scholarship Awards program, open to students residing in Ocean County or Monmouth County studying communications. The deadline for this year's scholarship application is Dec. 8. There are no extensions. Since 1983, JSPRAA has held the James R. McCormick Memorial Scholarship Awards program to recognize the outstanding achievements of communications students and to provide them with financial assistance. McCormick was an active JSPRAA member who was killed in a car accident in September 1983. At the time of his death, he served the residents of the Monmouth County area as the director of public information and tourism. He had also worked as a reporter for the Register in Shrewsbury and the Asbury Park Press in Neptune. In his honor, JSPRAA awards several scholarship annually. To date, more than $85,000 has been awarded to Monmouth and Ocean County students. To qualify for the scholarship, candidates must be: • Pursuing a degree or certified course of study in an accredited junior/community college, college, university or professional trade school. • Pursuing communications, public relations, journalism or advertising as a major course of study. Applications from candidates pursuing major studies in other fields, but whose main interest is in the communications profession, will also be considered. Candidates must be entering the second of a two-year course of study, or the second through fourth year of a four-year course of study. Graduate students are not eligible. Any candidate who has received JSPRAA scholarship aid for the second year of study in a two-year program will not be eligible for further aid unless the candidate matriculates in a four-year program. Candidates must be residents of Monmouth County or Ocean County. The location of their school is immaterial. • To apply for the scholarship, candidates must submit a letter of recommendation from an instructor in public relations, journalism, advertising, radio and/or television broadcasting, or an active, dues-paying member of JSPRAA. All scholarship packets must include: • A scholarship application; • A letter from the instructor or JSPRAA member certifying the applicant's qualifications and professional career goals; • A letter from the applicant stating his/her career goals and what receiving a JSPRAA scholarship will do to assist in achieving these goals; • A current resume; and • A transcript of grades from the applicant's present educational institution. An unofficial copy is acceptable. Applicants should mail scholarship packets to: Scholarship Committee, JSPRAA, P.O. Box 8515, Red Bank 07701, no later than Dec. 8. Winners will be notified in December and presented with the scholarship award at the January 2007 JSPRAA membership meeting. For more information or to request a scholarship application, contact Chris Burns at (732) 739-1271, cburns@gravityhilmedia.com, or visit www.jspraa.com to download an application and eligibility requirements.