ELIGIBILITY
- Students who attend school in NY, NJ, CT, or PA – OR – College undergraduate and graduate students who are permanent residents or U.S. Citizens of one of these states, unless otherwise outlined in an individual scholarship’s criteria. The individual scholarship’s criteria would then supersede these criteria.
- Example: A student who is from Texas but attends school in NY is eligible.
- Example: A student who is from NY but attends in Texas is eligible.
- A student who is from Texas and attends school in Texas is not eligible.
- Membership is complimentary for Rising Stars, ages 18-26. Applicants age 18-26 must be NYWICI members, via the complimentary Rising Star membership. Membership is strongly encouraged but not required for applicants age 27+. If you are not a member, please consider joining here.
QUALIFICATIONS
An applicant must:
- Be majoring, planning to declare a major, or pursuing an advanced degree in a communications-related field at a U.S. accredited college/university. Communications-related fields include, but are not limited to, advertising, broadcasting, communications, digital media, English, film, journalism, marketing, public relations, or publishing.
- have an overall GPA of 3.2 (or 87%) or better.
- be available for a virtual interview with timing TBD.
- If awarded, the scholarship funds must be used for the next academic year. We give the scholarship money directly to the school.
RECOMMENDATION LETTERS
- If the letter is not on letterhead (strongly preferred), the writer must provide complete contact information.
- One letter must be from a faculty or staff member from the applicant’s current institution (i.e., someone from whom the applicant has taken a class and can comment on coursework or an academic advisor).
- The second recommendation must be from a professional or community recommendation. Examples include:the applicant’s supervisor for a job, internship, or volunteer activity; the applicant’s athletic coach; the academic advisor of an extracurricular activity in which the applicant participates; or the instructor from an outside class or course the applicant has taken.
- If a person writing a recommendation prefers to send the recommendation directly to NYWICI, they can send it to info@nywici.org and we will attach it to the student’s file.










Scholarship Value: $10,000
Awards Available: 20
Award Deadline: Jan 9, 2026