Contact:  Amy Schiska, 614-891-9001 ext. 3#

COLUMBUS, Ohio, May 30 /Christian Newswire/ -- Religion Newswriters invites applicants to its Lilly Scholarships in Religion program, which provides full-time journalists with up to $5,000 to cover the cost of college tuition, books, registration fees, parking and other costs.

The scholarships can be used at any accredited college, university, seminary or similar institution.  Journalists can take any course they choose as long as it is in the field of religion.

Journalists previously awarded scholarships have taken courses covering a wide variety of courses including World Religions, Church History, Religion and Violence, Intro to Islam, Evangelism and many more.

"This class (History of Christianity) dispelled a lot of myths that are circulated, and I wish everyone would take a course like this to become better informed.  Knowledge is, after all, power," said Lisa Jacoby, reporter, Baker City Herald.

This year's scholarship application deadlines are July 1 and Oct. 1, 2007.

Scholarships must be used within three academic quarters of their award date. A total of $85,000 is available for distribution this year; approximately $40,000 remains. All full-time journalists working in the general circulation news media‹including reporters, editors, designers, copy editors, editorial writers, news directors, researchers and producers‹are eligible, regardless of whether or not they cover religion.

Religion Newswriters Association is the world's only journalism association for people who write about religion in the mainstream news media.  The scholarships are offered through its non-profit arm, the Religion Newswriters Foundation, with generous funding from the Lilly Endowment, Inc.

Complete information about the Lilly Scholarships in Religion program is available at http://www.rna.org/scholarships.php. For questions, contact Amy Schiska at 614-891-9001 ext. 3# or at Schiska@RNA.org.