Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Three Young Women Receive 2019 OJEFA Scholarships for SEOPA Conference Attendance

BADIN, N.C. — Serena Juchnowski, Anushtha Agrawal and Kristy Fike are winners of the 2019 Lindsay Sale-Tinney Award and the Toyota “Let’s Go Places” Awards from the Outdoor Journalist Education Foundation of America (OJEFA).

The three receive Southeastern Outdoor Press Association conference scholarships to attend the annual SEOPA conference, scheduled for Oct. 23-26 in Oxford, Miss. The scholarship contest is managed by OJEFA and generously supported by Stu Tinney, in memory of his late wife, and Toyota.

Juchnowski, a junior at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland studying marketing and English, will receive the 2019 Lindsay Sale-Tinney Award. Serena found her passion in hunting and competitive shooting while in middle school and high school. While she had dreamed of being a writer and photographer, it wasn’t until a chance encounter with longtime SEOPA member John Phillips (he called to ask permission to use a photo of her) that Serena discovered her aspirations could become reality. Phillips mentored her and she now has dozens of credits in Junior Shooters Magazine, Gunpowder Magazine, NRA Family Insights Magazine and more. Serena had another chance meeting with yet another SEOPA member­­­. She met Josh Honeycutt, the 2012 recipient of the Lindsay Sale-Tinney Award, while attending the 2019 SHOT Show. Honeycutt encouraged her to apply for the conference scholarship.

The Toyota “Let’s Go Places” scholarships go to Anushtha Agrawal and Kristy Fike. Anushtha came to the United States from a small town in India to pursue her passion for media and communications. She is working toward an M.A. in Journalism at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. Though her work has focused mostly on travel and people, she is eager to learn more about outdoors communications. Anushtha has a YouTube Channel and hopes to be a part of a video production house someday.

Kristy Fike is high school senior from King George, Va., who is eager to hone her writing skills to become a more effective communicator. Kristy enjoys hunting for waterfowl, dove, turkey and deer, but her heart belongs to Labrador retrievers. It was her love of the special breed that led her to start writing. She is a novice gun dog trainer who hopes to make it part of her career. Kristy is involved in several outdoor organizations including the National Wild Turkey Federation and the King George Outdoor Club.

“Conferences offer opportunities that only can be found face-to-face,” said Lisa Snuggs, SEOPA executive director and OJEFA CEO, “We are so excited to welcome these three young women to our organization to learn from the best.”

OJEFA established the Lindsay Sale-Tinney Award in 2011 at the behest of Stu Tinney in memory of his late wife who loved the outdoors, animals, children, photography and education. In 2013, Tinney, founder of the original Striper magazine and tournament series, donated $25,000 for the sole purpose of providing this conference scholarship. Now, with Toyota’s support, two more young people are able to meet industry icons, attend seminars and hands-on workshops, and learn about the various career options in outdoor communications.

To learn more, please watch a short video produced by the 2012 recipient Josh Honeycutt at Lindsay Sale-Tinney Award.

About Toyota: Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 38 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.).

About SEOPA: The Southeastern Outdoor Press Association, Inc., has been helping outdoor communicators and allied industry representatives excel in their professions since 1964. For more information visit seopa.org.

About OJEFA: The Outdoor Journalist Education Foundation of America, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization established by the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association in 2004 to further education, research and network opportunities in the field of outdoor journalism for students, active outdoor journalists and outdoor journalist organizations. For more information visit OJEFA.

Contact: Lisa Snuggs, SEOPA Executive Director/ OJEFA CEO, mailto:seopa2020@gmail.com or 704-961-7614