The Bermuda Foundation for Insurance Studies (BFIS) this week announced the awarding of three new scholarships worth $15,000 a year for up to two years and two partial scholarships.

Recipients include James Botelho (Western Ontario - Actuarial Science), Leticia Trott (Temple - Risk Management), Shivonne Place (Hartford - Insurance), Dameka Dublin (Kean - Finance) and LaVonne Lee (St. Johns - Finance) who will head overseas this September to attend universities in the US and Canada.

They will be joining two other BFIS Scholarship students, Rajesh Pachai (Western Ontario - Actuarial Science) and Yannis Williams (St. Johns - Risk Management) who are entering their Senior years.

BFIS usually only awards three scholarships each year, but this year, due to the accelerated graduation of one of last year's recipients - Shanelle Smith (Temple - Insurance and Finance), Dameka Dublin and LaVonne Lee were able to receive partial scholarships.

In another break from tradition, BFIS also extended eligibility for these scholarships to students majoring in Economics, Mathematics, or related fields that plan to pursue insurance related careers.

In the past, BFIS focused on Bermudian students majoring in Insurance, Risk Management, Actuarial Science or Finance who exhibited exceptional scholastic aptitude.

All scholarship recipients must still, however, maintain a 3.0 GPA or above and be entering either their junior or senior year.

Since 1996, 26 Bermudian students have received financial awards for overseas study, 18 of whom have now graduated and are working in the insurance sector.

Mark Lima, president of BFIS, said: "I was delighted to take part in the scholarship selection process this year and I have to say that given the high calibre of the students I did not find it to be an easy task. While we were unfortunately unable to grant scholarships to all of the applicants, I am pleased to say that we managed to choose five exceptional students, who are committed to returning to Bermuda to play their part in our growing insurance industry."