NCA Legacy Scholarship
The National Communication Association invites undergraduate college students to apply and compete for the NCA Legacy Scholarship award. The NCA Legacy Scholarship seeks to broaden the Communication discipline’s relevance to various publics by providing a $1,000 scholarship to a local college student pursuing a degree in Communication, Journalism, or related program within the host city/region where the NCA Annual Convention is being held. A $250 award will go to the runner up. The scholarship award will be competitively given to a student based on both an essay related to communication and civic responsibility, and a convention theme-related speech presented during the NCA Annual Convention. The 2022 Annual Convention will be held November 17-20, 2022, in New Orleans, Louisiana. For more information, please visit the Annual Convention homepage
There are several criteria for scholarship eligibility:
- Applicant must be an undergraduate college student, (preference given to self-identified first-generation college students), with at least one year of postsecondary education remaining at an accredited college or university.
- Applicant must be attending a college or university within the city/region where the NCA Annual Convention is being held – this means within the region of New Orleans, Louisiana. (Should you have questions about if your college/university is within the local region, please contact the committee chair).
- Applicant must be pursuing a degree in communication, journalism, or related program.
- Applicant must have a 3.0 GPA or higher.
- Applicant must not have received this scholarship previously.
Five semi-finalists will be selected based on the quality of their written essays. The semi-finalists will then compete in a speech contest to be held during the Annual Convention. Submission of the nomination material indicates the willingness of the applicant to attend and participate in the Legacy Scholarship speech competition, where the applicant will deliver a 5-7 minute informative or persuasive speech during the annual convention. The speech competition is held during the Saturday afternoon of convention.
The first-place winner of the speech competition will receive a personalized, engraved plaque mailed after the convention. The first-place winner will also receive a $1,000 monetary scholarship award supported by NCA until 2026 and then the NCA Legacy Scholarship Fund starting in 2027. The runner-up will receive a $250 monetary award. All participants in the speech contest portion will receive $50 for travel expenses to the conference.
Each semi-finalist will receive a free convention registration.
Submission Information
Nominations must be submitted online through the NCA website. The nomination materials are due by Friday, October 7, 2022 and must include the following:
- A cover letter stating your interest in applying for the scholarship.
- A letter of recommendation.
- A short essay (maximum 750 words) related to communication and civic responsibility.
- A resume or CV indicating any work, community service, and extracurricular leadership experiences.
Submission of materials indicates willingness for the applicant to attend and participate in the Legacy Scholarship speech competition held during the Annual Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana.
All nominees must write a short 750-word essay on the following topic:
"Contribute to the conference theme of People, Liberation, Advocacy, Community, and Environment (PLACE) by explaining how communication scholars and students can help us learn about the importance of and our role in Community through the promotion and/or development of one or more of the elements of People, Liberation, Advocacy, Community, and Environment."
The five semi-finalists are expected to expand on the same topic for the speech competition at the Annual Convention.
Selection Committee
- James Cherney, University of Nevada, Reno
- Jacob Dickerson, Berea College
- Marnel Niles Goins, Marymount University and NCA Second Vice-President