Amanda Casanova, senior English major and journalism minor at Texas A&M University, recently received a $3,000 scholarship from the Headliners Foundation in Austin. Casanova, of Lufkin, was honored at a luncheon featuring Dan Rather as the speaker. Casanova, who has worked as a staff writer at The Lufkin Daily News, is the editor in chief of The Battalion, the daily student newspaper of Texas A&M. Casanova leads a group of about 80 student journalists.

The Headliners Foundation serves to provide scholarships for promising college students; to recognize those persons in the profession whose writing and reporting skills, integrity and fairness have upheld the highest principles of a free press; to recognize executives and administrators in the media who have provided outstanding leadership in maintaining responsible communication in the public interest; and to sponsor and participate in projects concerned with promoting journalistic excellence.

During its proud history, the foundation has:

* Provided more than $1 million in tuition support to more than 350 college students across Texas

* Recognized more than 250 journalists in Texas for outstanding work and career achievement

* Partnered with the University of Texas to acquire famous photographic archives from such publications as Newsweek and The New York Herald Tribune

* Hosted some of the nation's finest journalists at the Headliners Club, including Walter Cronkite, Sam Donaldson, Sarah McClendon, David Broder, William Safire, Helen Thomas, Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Bill Moyers.