Eight young people were given a hand up with their education — thanks to the Ross Blackie Talbot Education Award.

Aaron Bassett, Tomika Easton, Winston Godwin, LeRoya Hardtman, Tia Kipps, Uthmani Talbot, Shaydrina Hassell and Antionay Tankard were each awarded between $5,000 and $10,000.

A total of $60,000 was presented yesterday by Clement Talbot, Chairman of the Ross "Blackie" Talbot Charity Classic. The charity aims to give young Bermudians the financial means to continue their education overseas.

Mr. Bassett, 19, is a student at Georgia State. He said he was "grateful" for the award and called it "a great honour".

The finance major said the scholarship made it much easier for him to focus on his studies.

"It would have been more of a struggle if I didn't receive this award. But I am very appreciative for it because I won't have to take out student loans."

Award recipient Ms Easton, 22, will be entering her final year at Cape Brenton University in Nova Scotia, Canada where she is studying tourism.

She told The Royal Gazette: "It feels really, really good. I had a [series] of scholarships that I applied for and most of them I got.

"It's a relief off my back in a sense. So essentially I can focus more on my grades and on my school.

"Scholarships like this financially help you so that you don't have to stress about money or finances. It is a big relief and I am so excited that I was one of the candidates."

Ms Easton, a former Raleigh International participant said a trip to Namibia in 2006 gave her the confidence to apply for the award. Because of that, she continues to volunteer with the organisation today and tries to encourage others.

HSBC was the award's lead sponsor. CEO Philip Butterfield encouraged the students to look at this next stage of life as "a period of discovery" and commit themselves to learning new things.

He suggested they take the experience "very seriously" and stay committed to returning to Bermuda.

"Whatever your sphere of endeavour may wind up being, choose to be different, choose not to be complacent, choose not to be one of the crowd.

"You have tremendous talent, tremendous capacity. Put those talents to work and cause our community to be better than it is today."

Chairman of the award's selection committee, Senator Jeanne Atherden, said young people involved in positive activities are not recognised nearly enough.

She urged the public to take note of the winners and "remember we gave them their start".

"Every time [we] interview candidates we are impressed at just how they have worked with dealing with the stress that financial uncertainties can cause and still find time to carry out some community service.

"I believe once they complete their education they will return to take the contribution to the next level," she said.