Each year KEMPA awards college scholarships to promising high school seniors who will be enrolling in colleges and universities to pursue careers in journalism or communications. This year we are proud to announce that three highly qualified students, Emma Kumar from Brookfield Central H.S. in Wisconsin, Hannah Boufford from Libertyville H.S. in Illinois, and Katrina Nickell from Niles West H.S. in Illinois, will each receive a $600 scholarship for the 2016-2017 school year.

Kumar has been the editor-in-chief for two years of the Brookfield H.S. Central multiple-award-winning yearbook, The Legend. These awards included an All-American award from the National Scholastic Press Association, making it one of the best high school yearbooks in the nation, in addition to receiving All-KEMPA honors with the highest score of any yearbook in Wisconsin. In the fall she will start her journalism career at the University of Missouri-Columbia school of Journalism. Her adviser is Tom Juran.

Boufford was the editor-in-chief of the highly acclaimed Drops of Ink publication at Libertyville H.S. Her leadership and dedication has made the publication one of the top high school news magazines in the state of Illinois. During her senior year she was named the Illinois Journalist of the Year by the Illinois Journalism Education Association and she will be attending Indiana University as a direct admit to their Media School as one of only 16 Ernie Pyle scholars. Her adviser is Michael Gluskin.

Nickell has excelled during the past year as Managing Editor of the Niles West News website which was named a Pacemaker finalist by the National Scholastic Press Association and a Crown finalist by Columbia Scholastic Press Association. Among her many skills, Nickell stands out as an outstanding videographer where she has received several awards at the state, regional, and national levels. She will also be honing her journalism skills at Indiana University in the fall. Her adviser is Evelyn Lauer.

Congratulations to all of our winners, and also to the many fine students who applied for our scholarships which made it difficult for us to make our final choices. Clearly the future of journalism is in good hands with the many aspiring journalists that applied.