First-Ever Miranda Lambert Scholarship Awarded to Belmont Student
Miranda Lambert's inaugural Women Creators scholarship has been awarded to a very promising student at Belmont University in Nashville.
Anna Vaus is a junior at Belmont's Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business, majoring in songwriting with a minor in music business. She has been chosen as the first-ever recipient of the scholarship, which will provide her with more than $40,000 in funds beginning in the 2016-2017 academic year.
“I am so thankful and honored to have been chosen as the first recipient of the Miranda Lambert Women Creators Fund,” Vaus says in a press release. “Not just because of what a crazy opportunity it is for myself, but because the tide is changing for all of the young women in this industry. I have so much hope for women in country music because of the path that Miranda and so many awesome people are currently fighting to pave for us!”
Vaus is already a familiar face to Taste of Country readers; she recently took part in a Song Suffragettes performance as part of the #LetTheGirlsPlay shows at Nashville's Listening Room, joining together with more up-and-coming females in Music City for a cover of Maren Morris' "My Church."
Lambert established the Women Creators Fund in July of 2015, with an eye toward helping women who are pursuing music business and entertainment studies achieve their goals. She performed an acoustic fundraiser that same month, featuring appearances from RaeLynn, Clare Dunn and Courtney Cole, as well as songwriters Natalie Hemby and Jessi Alexander. Hemby, Dunn and Cole all graduated from Belmont.
Candidates for the scholarship completed an online application and submitted an original song, and the 80 applications received were then reviewed by a small selection committee. The top six finalists were sent to Lambert to review before making the final selection.
"We are so grateful to Miranda Lambert for her fantastic commitment to the women songwriters and artists that comprise a major part of the creative community at the Curb College," says Doug Howard, dean of the Curb College. "And, I want to congratulate Anna Vaus and the many women creators at Belmont University who participated in this year's award process. Thank you Miranda!"
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