The Rochester Association for Film Arts and Sciences (RAFAS) has selected five students to receive its annual Tom Hope Memorial Media Scholarship awards.
Awards are presented to outstanding students studying media production at Rochester area colleges. The awards are named in honor of the late Tom Hope, a nationally recognized Rochester area pioneer in the use of film and video.
The 2019 scholarship recipients are:
- Paige Austin, a Genesee Community College Mass Communications/Media Arts major from Churchville, NY.
- Sang Wook Nam, a SUNY Geneseo Communication major from Seoul, South Korea and Geneseo, NY.
- Ethan Reynolds, a Monroe Community College Video Production major from Rochester, NY.
- Julian Winters, a St. John Fisher College Media and Communication major from Philadelphia, PA
- Nate Bellavia, a Rochester Institute of Technology Film Production major from Henrietta, NY.
WHAM-TV News Anchor Don Alhart will be the keynote speaker and make the scholarship presentations at an Award Ceremony in April.
Scholarship namesake Tom Hope had a 60-year history of media innovation and service. As a teenage Eagle Scout in the 1930s, Hope filmed Boy Scout founder Lord Robert Baden-Powell. In training for WWII with the First Special Service Force, he pioneered the use of high-speed photography to develop safe landing techniques for paratroopers. His work is credited with saving the lives of countless soldiers. Hope was also a combat photographer and Photo Officer in the Battle of the Bulge.
After WWII, Hope worked for General Mills where he transformed the old radio version of the Lone Ranger into the long-running television series.
Hope settled in Rochester where he worked for Kodak as a consulting liaison to other filmmakers. He was a national co-founder of CINE, which selects U.S. films for overseas festivals; and a long-standing contributing author on film for Encyclopedia Britannica. He passed away in 2017 at the age of 97.
Donations for the Tom Hope Memorial Media Scholarship are accepted through Paypal at https://paypal.me/tomhopescholarship
Note: PayPal retains a portion of your donation as its service fee.
RAFAS (Rochester Association for Film Arts and Sciences) is a 501c3 tax-exempt public charity, so your donation may be tax deductible. You will receive a receipt that you can use when you prepare your income tax return.