May 4, 2010 10:14:06 AM

Ana Sebescen, a tennis student-athlete at Coppin State University, is the recipient of the 2010 Jim McKay Scholarship, which is presented annually to a student-athlete who has excelled academically and plans to pursue postgraduate studies in the communications field.

The Jim McKay Scholarship program was established in 2008 to recognize the contributions and legacy of pioneer sports journalist Jim McKay and to assist former student-athletes who plan to work on a postgraduate degree at an NCAA college or university.

Sebescen will receive a $10,000 scholarship for her postgraduate studies. Sebescen earned her bachelor's degree in English with a minor in journalism, and plans to pursue a master's degree in broadcast journalism.  

Sebescen, who is of Serbian-Hungarian nationality, survived two wars in her native country as a youth.  After seeing her native Serbia destroyed economically, politically and socially, she decided that she wanted to become a journalist to help instill change.  

Sebescen interned at the Baltimore Examiner during one summer, and became the first intern to publish twice on the cover page of the newspaper. She also pioneered the newspaper's first multimedia article.  

She was also the editor-in-chief of the student newspaper at Coppin State and interned at WBAL-TV.

Her goals include hosting an international sports show that profiles athletes who have undergone war traumas, been victims to gender inequalities or who have overcome major obstacles in life. 

Her academic honors at Coppin State include membership in the Sigma Tau Delta International English Honor Society and receiving Coppin State's Academic Ambassador of the Year award. She also participated in community service, assisting with book collections that served to increase literacy awareness in Western African countries and raising funds to aid victims of child and domestic abuse. 

The Jim McKay Scholarship is open to male and female student-athletes in NCAA Divisions I, II and III. Nominees must have an overall undergraduate grade-point average of 3.5 or better and must have competed in intercollegiate athletics as a member of a varsity team at an NCAA member institution. Scholarships can be presented to either a male or female student-athlete or both in a given year. 

Nominees should also be enrolled in a graduate program or be a graduating senior committed to enrolling in a graduate program within five years of being named a McKay Scholar. Candidates are nominated by the institution's faculty athletics representative or chief academic officer. Schools may nominate an unlimited number of candidates, though each requires a separate application.