Accessible Media Inc. announced today the winners of its 2024 AMI Scholarship program. The program, which launched in 2024, is open to Canadian students planning to enroll or continuing to be enrolled in a diploma or degree program at a Canadian post-secondary school. Two scholarships valued at $5,000 are awarded annually, one of which is reserved for a student with a permanent disability. To be considered for this scholarship, each student is required to submit a 500-word mandatory essay on a topic related to accessibility. This year's topic focused on the importance of making mass media accessible to persons with disabilities.
"The results of the 2024 AMI Scholarship program exceeded our expectations", explained Peter Burke, AMI Vice-President of Marketing and Communications. "We saw an increase of more than 140% in the total number of entries as compared to last year and the thought and creativity that went into the essays was truly impressive."
The winners of the 2024 AMI Scholarship program are Gillian Murch of Orillia, Ontario and RuiLin Guo of Barrie, Ontario. Gillian, who has low vision, is working towards her Honours Bachelor of Commerce, Business Administration at Lakehead University, Orillia campus and RuiLin attends the University of Western Ontario where she is pursuing her Honours Degree in Business Administration.
"The purpose of launching the program was to raise awareness of the challenges that people with disabilities face on a regular basis where accessing media is concerned," continued Peter. "These are day-to-day activities that most of us take for granted and we're so pleased that our winners truly grasped the subject matter and were able to articulate what that meant to them on a very personal level."