BY LANCE GAITHER

lance.gaither@bluegrassnewsmedia.com

After being awarded the title Boyle County’s Distinguished Young Woman in August, Boyle County High School Senior Edie Clark placed runner-up in two of the five categories that contestants are judged on the 65th annual statewide competition held recently at the University of Kentucky.

Clark was one of 27 high school senior girls from Kentucky who competed to represent the state as the Distinguished Young Woman of Kentucky for 2023. Participants were evaluated in the categories of Scholastics (25%), Interview (25%), Talent (20%), Fitness (15%) and Self-Expression (15%).

“The scoring is exactly the same at the county, state and national level. Five judges give the girls a score for each category,” said Boyle County Distinguished Young Woman director Donna Majors. “Edie was given preliminary awards in scholastics and interview. That meant she was top four out of all the contestants. It says a lot about her, how studious she is, and how well she speaks. She gave an excellent interview. They don’t like to refer to the contestants as winners but instead call them a representative selected from a group of winners. Every girl who competes is a winner. Most of them have high academics and are heavily involved in their community. ”

Started in 1958, the Distinguished Young Women program provides scholarship assistance to high school senior girls and promotes life skills to help them succeed after high school.

Claire Martin of Winchester was named the Distinguished Young Woman of Kentucky for 2023 and was awarded $8,850 in scholarships during the statewide scholarship program for high school girls held Jan. 13-14 at UK’s Singletary Center for the Arts.

At the county level of the program, scholarship awards are based on the support of the community.

“We are very fortunate to have the community support that we do,” said Majors. “We we’re able to award more scholarship money than the state program. We are number 2 in the state behind Lincoln County. We we’re able to award $23,000 in scholarship money. Every participant in Boyle County was awarded at least $300.”

Clark earned $7,300 dollars in scholarships at the Boyle program in August and an additional $600 dollars through the state competition.

The daughter of Josh and Lori-Anne Clark, she is undecided in her college choice.