Contact: Tammy Lane • First Posted: Wednesday, April 7, 2010

James Mason and Ebony Rowe of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School are among Kentucky’s 10 winners in the 2010 National Achievement Scholarship competition.

Each will receive a $2,500 award for undergraduate study. James listed his probable career field as surgical medicine, while Ebony plans to pursue physics/engineering.

In the National Achievement Scholarship Program, about 800 outstanding African-American high school seniors will receive awards totaling $2 million. They were selected on the basis of their abilities, accomplishments and potential for academic success in college. The scholarships are financed by grants from three dozen corporate organizations and professional associations, and by the National Merit Scholarship Corp.

More than 160,000 students entered the competition by requesting consideration when they took the 2008 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) as high school juniors.

Kentucky had 20 semifinalists this year, including six from Fayette County Public Schools. In addition to James and Ebony, the semifinalists were Jessika Cummins of Lafayette High, Kamron Cox and Devin Etling-Turner of Tates Creek High, and Anna Kiluba of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School.