A Georgia Southern student will be honored for his skills in outdoor communication next summer at the Outdoor Journalist Education Foundation of America.

Wade Hodges, junior multimedia film and production major, will be presented with the sixth annual Lindsay Sale-Tinney award.

“By winning this award, I am able to go to this conference and interact with professionals in the outdoor industry and hopefully make some connections what will help me down the road,” Hodges said. “I received a lot of media exposure from the press release and newsletter that the Southeastern Outdoor Press Association (SEOPA) put out which was very cool.”

The award honors the late photographer and magazine editor Lindsay Sale-Tinney, recognizing upcoming outdoor communicators and giving them the opportunity to attend the annual Southeastern Outdoor Press Association Conference, which includes $750 in travel expenses with four free nights and free meals at the conference.

The conference will also allow new members to work with mentors in the SEOPA. Each day, members will partake in SEOPA seminar, geared towards giving new vital knowledge and experience on working in the outdoor communications area.

Students who are interested in applying for the scholarship are required to display a tear sheet of their previous work and a 1200-1500 word essay on how they can benefit from the scholarship.

Students are excited that Hodges is getting recognized for his talents.

“It’s great on his part because people are going to know what he does and its going to benefit him. [It’s] good that he gets his name out there. It will help him in the long run,” Dinahlee Lemaistre, junior computer science major, said.

Sophomore biology major Deja Sims is happy that students are getting recognized for their art talents.

“This school basically strives through football and STEM classes. So it is good to see something other than those two have a light shined on them,” Sims said. “A lot of departments here on campus do not get the same exposure as the rest of them. So it’s good to have that in the front.”

For more information on the Lindsay Sale-Talley Award or how to apply for next year’s scholarship, head on to http://seopa.org/ojefascholarship-information/