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NEADS Announces Winners of the 2016 NEADS National Student Awards and AMI Scholarship Programs!

(Ottawa, January 12, 2017) – The National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS), and our generous funding partners: Imperial, Scotiabank, Industrial Alliance Insurance and Financial Services and private donors, are thrilled to announce the ten outstanding winners of the 2016 NEADS Students Awards Program, including the NEADS Holly Bartlett Memorial Award and the NEADS Christine Nieder Memorial Award. Seven students will receive $3,000 and three recipients of the Holly Bartlett Memorial Award (2) and the Christine Nieder Memorial Award (1), are awarded $1,000 in support of their post-secondary tuition and student fees. The academic programs of the recipients listed below represent the programs of study in progress at the time of application.
 
NEADS Student Awards Winners ($3,000) 
   
Libby Oliver, Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Victoria, British Columbia
Alise de Bie, PhD in Social Work, McMaster University, Ontario 
Manal Eldeb, PhD in Psychiatry, McGill University, Quebec  
Brianna Knowles, Diploma in Fish, Wildlife and Recreation, British Columbia Institute of Technology, British Columbia 
Xiao Wen Xu, Honours Bachelor of Architectural Studies, University of Waterloo, Ontario
Lara Wong, Diploma in Social Service Work, Humber College, Ontario  
Jessica Watkin,  Masters of Drama, Theatre Theory and Performance Studies, University of Toronto, Ontario 
 
NEADS Holly Bartlett Memorial Award Winners ($1,000)
 
Lindsay Oldham, Bachelor of Earth Science and Economics, Memorial University, Newfoundland
Noémie Germain, baccalauréat en psychoéducation, Université Laval, Quebec 
 
NEADS Christine Nieder Memorial Award Winner ($1,000) 
 
Stuart Matan-Lithwick, PhD in Laboratory Medicine & Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Ontario 
 
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) Scholarships 
 
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) previously announced the winners of its 2016 AMI Robert Pearson Memorial Scholarship program on November 3rd, 2016. The program, which launched in 2012, is open to Canadian students enrolled in a diploma or degree program at a Canadian post-secondary school. Two scholarships valued at $5,000 each are awarded annually to students with a disability, one in English and one in French. NEADS manages the AMI Scholarships in a partnership with AMI.
 
The winners of the 2016 AMI Robert Pearson Memorial Scholarship are Sean Heaslip of Vancouver, British Columbia and Valérie Poisson from Montreal, Quebec. Sean is in year one of a Doctoral program in Counseling Psychology at the University of British Columbia while Valérie is pursuing her Masters in Voice Performance at the University of Ottawa.
 
"Congratulations to the 2016 NEADS Awards winners and the recipients of the AMI Scholarship,” said Dr. Mahadeo Sukhai, Director of the Student Awards Program. "We received nearly 300 applications for the 2016 competition. Choosing the winners was an extremely difficult process. The achievements and perseverance of all candidates were just incredible. The dedication and success of this year's winners truly embodies the spirit of all NEADS Student Awards programs and the AMI Scholarship. We wish all winners the very best in their programs and careers and look forward to watching their future success. The Awards Programs wouldn’t be possible without the generous support of our donors, and we are grateful to our corporate and private supporters.”
 
"I applaud the winners of the 2016 awards. I am very excited that our association can help support these very deserving students in their education careers,” said Emily Duffett, Chair of NEADS. “These scholarship programs are truly great initiatives that see many deserving applicants each year and these programs continue to grow. Thank you to our generous supporters for making it happen."
 
About the NEADS Student Awards: 
 
The NEADS National Student Awards Program is offered to encourage full access to post-secondary education for persons with disabilities, who often have greater barriers to participation in higher education, as well as extra costs because of their disabilities. Students must currently be registered in and continuing at post-secondary institution and provide documented proof of registration as part of the application and on receipt of the award. The award is offered to outstanding applicants who meet the criteria of the program. The awards are paid directly to the post-secondary institution (in the students’ accounts) that the recipients are attending to defray the cost of tuition fees for post-secondary study.
 
About the NEADS Holly Bartlett Memorial Award: 
 
The Holly Bartlett Memorial Award was established by the NEADS board of directors after the passing of Holly in 2010. Holly Bartlett served on the NEADS Board of Directors as the association’s Nova Scotia Director for a number of years. Holly's accomplishments, in a life that was way too short, were phenomenal. The Holly Bartlett Memorial Award is a tribute to Holly. The scholarship assists students with disabilities realize success in post-secondary education. This is the sixth year for the Award in Holly's memory.
 
About the Christine Nieder Memorial Award: 
 
The Christine Nieder Memorial Award was established in 2015 to commemorate the life and contributions of Ms. Christine Nieder, NEADS Board member, who passed away in July 2014. The award will be offered to a graduate student with a disability in the amount of $1,000 in recognition of Christine’s passionate work to address barriers faced to participation in graduate programs of study.
 
About the AMI Scholarship Program: 
 
Information and eligibility requirements for the 2017 AMI Scholarship program will be posted on the AMI websites later this month. Visit www.AMI.ca/scholarship and www.AMItele.ca/bourses for complete details.
 
About Accessible Media (AMI) Inc. 
 
Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) is a not-for-profit multimedia organization serving more than five million Canadians who are blind, partially sighted, deaf, hard of hearing, mobility or print restricted. Operating three broadcast services, AMI-tv and AMI-audio in English and AMI-télé in French, AMI’s mission is to make accessible media for all Canadians. To learn more visit AMI.ca and AMItele.ca. For more information, please contact: Janis Davidson Pressick, Communications Manager 800-567-6755 ext. 0971, janis.davidsonpressick@ami.ca
Look for an announcement of intake of applications for all NEADS Awards Programs and the AMI Robert Pearson Memorial Scholarship early in 2017 on the NEADS website: www.neads.ca
 
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For further information contact:
 
Frank Smith, National Coordinator National Educational Association of Disabled Students (NEADS) Rm. 426 Unicentre, Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario, K1S 5B6 tel. (613) 380-8065 ext. 201 frank.smith@neads.ca www.neads.ca
"Supporting access to post-secondary education and employment for students with disabilities"
 
 
 
 
 



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