{"id":5678,"date":"2018-11-07T18:05:17","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T00:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/?p=5678"},"modified":"2018-11-07T18:05:17","modified_gmt":"2018-11-08T00:05:17","slug":"congratulations-to-the-winner-of-dear-abby-college-columnist-scholarship-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentpress.org\/acp\/2018\/11\/07\/congratulations-to-the-winner-of-dear-abby-college-columnist-scholarship-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"Congratulations to the winner of Dear Abby College Columnist Scholarship Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

The National Society of Newspaper Columnists Education Foundation<\/a> (NSNCEF) has announced that Danny Bugingo of the University of Idaho is the winner of the 2018 Dear Abby College Columnist Scholarship Contest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bugingo will receive a $5,000 scholarship for winning the column-writing contest, based on three columns entered by college columnists who write for their school\u2019s newspaper and\/or media site.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Danny<\/a>

Danny Bugingo of the University of Idaho is the winner of the 2018 Dear Abby College Columnist Scholarship Contest.<\/p><\/div>\n

Bugingo, 21, is a senior at the Moscow, Idaho, university, majoring in Math and French. His submissions from The Argonaut<\/i><\/a>, the school newspaper, garnered the following assessment from final judge, Chicago Tribune columnist\u00a0<\/span>Clarence Page.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciated his fresh, well-reasoned and broadly researched arguments on some very thorny topics of our times \u2014 and delivering them in a crisp, witty and conversational writing voice that left me wanting to hear more,\u201d Page said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bugingo was born in Nairobi, Kenya, and came to the United States and Portland, Oregon, at age 4. His parents were originally from Rwanda, a former Belgian colony, which accounts for their son\u2019s interest in French. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve studied French and they can still say things I don\u2019t understand,\u201d he says with a chuckle. \u201cThat\u2019s why I\u2019m super excited to study abroad in France next semester.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Idaho student says he came late to writing and credits teachers for helping him find his passion. \u201cI love writing. It\u2019s my favorite thing to do,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve always consumed a lot of media \u2014 listening to podcasts, reading a lot of newspapers, books.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI love expressing myself when I have an opinion on a subject,\u201d he goes on. \u201cBut I\u2019m also interested in the way we communicate. I think there are a lot of broken things in the way we use technology to try to create communities.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Knowing that he was speaking to an adjunct lecturer at Indiana University, Bugingo, who also carries a minor in computer science, asked, \u201cHave you ever met (Pulitzer Prize winning author and Professor of Cognitive Science at IU) Douglas Hofstadter? (His book) Godel, Escher, Bach (An Eternal Golden Braid) was ahead of its time, I think. His book is becoming even more relevant as AI (artificial intelligence) gets better. We\u2019re trying to get computers to solve problems and strayed away from the original version of making AI more like human intelligence.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Bugingo considers himself a typical college student, a fan of hip-hop music and soccer. He says graduate school is definitely in his future and he\u2019s considering studying law, among other things.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finalists in the Dear Abby College Columnist Scholarship Contest include:<\/span><\/p>\n