The Animal Agriculture Alliance announced the winners of its annual College Aggies Online (CAO) scholarship program.

In the individual competition, the winners were:
– First place, $2500 scholarship: Topanga McBride, junior in agricultural communications and agricultural economics, Kansas State University
– Second place, $1000 scholarship: Brianna Gwirtz, junior in agricultural communications, The Ohio State University
– Third place, $500 scholarship: Erica Ballmer, masters student in youth development and agricultural education, Purdue University

In the student organization division, top competitors were:
– First place, $2500 award: Agriculture Club, Western Illinois University
– Second place, $1000 award: Agriculture Advocacy Class, Northwest Missouri State University
– Third place, $500 award: Gator Collegiate CattleWomen, University of Florida

In addition to scholarship funds, the top three individuals and one representative from each top club receives an expenses-paid trip to the Alliance’s 2017 Stakeholders Summit, set for May 3-4 in Kansas City, Mo. The Alliance also awarded a “Social Media Rockstar” prize of $500 to Kylie Philipps from University of Florida, who entered the best overall social media post of the competition.

The 2016 CAO competitors published a total of 2,000 posts on social media throughout the competition. More than 15,000 students and faculty members attended the various movie screenings, guest speakers, booths, farm tours and other events held on campuses across the country.