WJA Announces 2018 Scholarship and Grant Winners

New York--The Women’s Jewelry Association announced it will award a total of $65,500 in grants and scholarships for the 2018-2019 program year.

 The funds have been awarded to 45 women, 12 of whom are students in accredited programs focused on jewelry making and design.

 The recipients are as follows.

 --The Carelle-WJA Grant Winner ($5,000): Christina Miller

Miller is an independent sustainable jewelry consultant, providing strategy, guidance and impact measurement to help jewelers make lives better around the world. She also is the co-founder and former executive director of Ethical Metalsmiths and served as an assistant professor of jewelry and metalsmithing at Millersville University in Pennsylvania from 2006 to 2010.

 --The Female Veteran Scholarship ($5,000): Lisa West, Gemological Institute of America

West is a freelance CAD jewelry designer in San Diego. A disabled veteran of the United States Air Force, she is a graduate of the GIA’s Graduate Jeweler and Jewelry Design and Technology programs. She currently is working with a start-up jewelry company creating 3-D models for their products.

--The Cindy Edelstein Jewelry Design Scholarship ($5,000): Julie Martin, San Diego State University

After earning her BA in Applied Design in Jewelry and Metalsmithing at San Diego State University, Martin began a three-year apprenticeship with a master jeweler in San Diego who now is part of her current team. Then she started a fashion jewelry company and a decade later founded Scout Mandolin, which makes custom one-of-a-kind engagement rings, wedding bands and fine jewelry.

--The Gabriel Love Foundation Scholarship ($5,000): Magan Byron, GIA

Byron earned her BFA in Jewelry and Metalworking from the University of Georgia. She currently is enrolled in Gem Identification at the GIA, the last course needed for her to complete her Graduate Gemologist degree. She lives in Athens, Georgia, where she works as the operations director at T.K. Anderson Designs.

 Student scholarships also were awarded to the following. 

 --The June Herman Designer/Creator Scholarship Award ($7,000): Hsinyu Chu, GIA
--Designer/Creator Scholarship Award ($5,000): Hannah Hash, GIA
--Designer/Creator Scholarship Award ($3,000): Ekaterina Korzh, University of Iowa
--Designer/Creator Scholarship Award ($2,000): Zihan Yang, Savannah College of Art & Design
--The Peggy Kirby Scholarship Award ($5,000): Sidnee Tyree, Kendall College of Art and Design
--Non-Designer Scholarship ($3,000): Jacqueline Lapuck, GIA
--Non-Designer Scholarship ($1,000): Natalie Tjaden, University of Tennessee
--$1,000: Madison Desmond, GIA
--$1,000: Sarah Andrie, GIA
--$1,000: Jodi Webster, University of Kansas