For the first time in the seven-year history of the American Horse Publications Student Award Contest, there will be two winners. Summer Ann Best of Wauchula, Florida, and Laura Denissen of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, have been named 1999 Student Award Winners. Summer and Laura will each receive a cash award of $500 plus an all-expense trip to AHP's annual meeting and seminar held this year in Nashville, Tennessee, where they will have an opportunity to meet leading equine publishing professionals and discuss career possibilities.

College students pursuing a career in equine publishing are eligible to compete for the AHP Student Award. Applicants are scored on the following criteria: academics, relevant experience, skills/abilities, presentation of materials, and career goals/assertiveness. The Student Award Contest is designed to award the student who scores the highest overall. In the case where two students score equally as well and are pursuing two different areas of publishing, the Student Award Chairman can recommend awarding both students. This year, the Student Award Committee approved awarding the honor to Summer, whose career interest is in journalism, and Laura, who is pursuing a career in advertising or marketing.

Summer Ann Best, age 20, will be graduating from the University of Florida in Gainesville, where she majored in magazine journalism and minored in English. Horses have kept her busy for more than 15 years. She wrote, "As a child, I used to trot our Shetland Pony all over the farm, yee-hawing and kicking her brown belly with my plastic boots until ol' Pepper finally decided to gallop for me. We pretended to be outlaws. I told everybody I was going to be a cowboy (or an Indian) when I grew up."

A few years later, she changed her mind. Horse shows became her passion in junior high and high school, and she worked closely with a trainer on weekends and holidays, schooling horses in return for riding lessons. She competed at the American Quarter Horse Youth Show three times and was honored in the Top Ten each year on horses that had received very little outside professional training.

In her pursuit of a career in equine publishing, she has taken steps to reach her goal by freelancing equine stories and by interning last summer at The Way To Go, the magazine for the National Snaffle Bit Association. This summer, she will continue her work by interning for three months at the Paint Horse Journal.

Laura Denissen, age 22, will be graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, where she majored in journalism with a public relations emphasis. She began riding at age five. She says the most valuable lessons she has learned have come from horses. She has jumped, ridden hunt seat, dressage, western, and most recently, saddle seat. She has also successfully shown Quarter Horses, Morgans and Warmbloods.

Unable to bring her horse along with her to college, she has tried to keep as involved as possible during the past four years. Whether exchanging work for lessons, assisting trainers, creating brochures for area farms or researching and writing articles for the newspaper, her interest in the equine industry has never faltered, rather it has expanded.

Upon graduation, Laura is seeking an advertising or marketing position in the equine industry where she can utilize her organizational and communication skills and apply them to an industry that she enjoys and excels in. Furthermore, she intends to continue her education by way of seminars, clinics and graduate school.

Laura and Summer will be honored on Friday, May 21, 1999, at the Student Award Dinner and Auction, held during the AHP Music City Seminar in Nashville, Tennessee. Music City LIVE will be an evening of live performances, a live auction, plus raffle and silent auction to benefit the AHP Student Award Fund. Beginning with a reception sponsored by the American Quarter Horse Association, the fun continues with a "Down-Home" Cookin' Country Buffet sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health and the Pfizer "Star" Search, which will be hosted by Dan Kramer.

American Horse Publications is a nonprofit professional association of over 200 equine-related publications, as well as individuals and businesses which share an interest in equine publishing. Formed in 1970, AHP has continued throughout its history to promote better understanding and communication within the equine publishing industry.

American Horse Publications is pleased to offer students interested in pursuing a career in equine publishing with the opportunity to participate in our association programs.

Student Membership is open to high school, college, and graduate students for an annual fee of $25. Student Members receive the following benefits: * Affiliation with a national equine publications group
* Listing in the online Membership Directory at www.americanhorsepubs.org
* AHP bimonthly newsletter, "For the record"

The Internship Program was designed specifically for college students who have an interest in horses and seek a career in equine publishing. This program is a great way to provide students with the resume-building experience that's so critical to today's career market. Interns gain valuable hands-on real life experience and AHP members acquire additional help when and where they need it most. The 1999 Internship Handbook provides information about the program, a directory of participating AHP members and an application.

Student may attend the Music City Seminar, AHP's annual meeting and seminar, in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 20-23, 1999, for a reduced registration of $100, half the cost of the member registration fee. Seminar registration will also include a free Student Membership for 1999! The seminar is a great opportunity to meet leading equine publishing professionals and discuss career possibilities.

Students who will be a junior or senior at the start of the 2000-2001 college year, with at least one semester before graduation, may request a brochure and application for the 2000 Student Award contest after January 1, 2000. To request information about any of our student programs, please contact: Chris Brune, American Horse Publications, 49 Spinnaker Circle, South Daytona, FL 32119; (904) 760-7743. To keep updated on AHP news, bookmark our website at www.americanhorsepubs.org.