A total of 21 students were yesterday awarded scholarships by the Association of Bermuda International Companies.

The Michelle Outerbridge Memorial Award, named after a former Abic scholar who died in 2000 aged 18 just after starting university in Canada, went to Zoe Wright.

Ms Wright, a former Saltus Grammar pupil, got a $5,000 award to help her through her studies in economics and management at the University of Bristol in the UK.

The Shernelle Outerbridge Memorial Award, an additional $15,000 grant to a an undergraduate Abic scholar, was presented to Ari Minors, who will attend Mount St Vincent University in Canada, where she will study business administration after getting an associates degree at Bermuda College.

The award is named after the former CEO of Zurich Investment Services, who won a 1984 Abic award and who died of complications after she was paralysed following a car crash in 2011.

And Maha Clarke, a former Warwick Academy pupil who goes to Queens University of Charlotte in North Carolina to study business, was given the $5,000 Stephen Edwards Memorial Award worth $5,000.

The award is in memory of an Abic scholar who died following a 2014 bike accident aged 19 while on holiday from his law studies at the University of Sussex in the UK.

All three recipients are also part of the annual Abic education awards programme, which gives outstanding students a $15,000 award for two years to assist with their studies.

The full list is Taahira Butterfield, Tatyana Butterfield, Hunter Cameron, Tracey DeSouza, Asha Ford, Dejanee Hill-Edwards, Brooke Pereira, Krystl Robinson-Assan, Raeesah Shakir, Ranisha Simmons, Kenya Simons, Michael-William Smith, Imani Smith, Asia Smith, Shallette Spencer, Evan Watkins, Kaisha Wilson and Taylor Braithwaite, the only postgraduate recipient, who will get a one-year $20,000 award.

A spokeswoman for Abic said: “The scholarship awards are based on a combination of the applicant’s financial need, academic ability and field of study.

“Other criteria for the undergraduate and postgraduate awards include the applicants’ specific career focus, awareness of the role of international business in Bermuda and the level of involvement and commitment to the community.”

The Abic awards programme, one of the biggest scholarship programmes on the island, has helped more than 540 full-time students studying at universities overseas.

This year, a total of $533,000 was raised from Abic member companies to fund the scholarship awards.

The awards were presented at a special lunch held at the Harbourfront restaurant at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute on East Broadway.

The deadline for applicants for next year’s awards is April 7 next year and anyone interested can apply at www.bermudascholarships.com. For further information, contact Greta Peters at 293-4600 or by e-mail at gpeters@abic.bm