The four winners of the first ever Blyth Commonwealth Scholarship awards for Canadian undergraduates have been announced. The scholarship, described by some as the undergrad version of the Rhodes, covers University and college fees, an annual stipend and a return air ticket. It is for Canadian students who couldn’t otherwise fund their studies at Cambridge.

The four awardees were selected after a very rigorous process. In all there were around a 100 applicants for the four awards, each nominated by their high school. Twenty were shortlisted for regional interviews, and then ten for national interviews. The interviews were conducted by several Cambridge alumni living in Canada along with two admissions officers, with each interview involving up to three interviewers.

The full-cost Blyth Commonwealth scholarships were first announced in June 2010, after the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust and Blyth Education organisations agreed to co-fund the scheme. The scheme is an expansion of the Blyth Cambridge Scholarship scheme at Pembroke College, which was a partial scholarship for one student, funded by Blyth Education and Pembroke College.

Sam Blyth, a Pembroke alumnus, the managing director of Blyth Education, commented: ‘I am delighted to support undergraduate scholars from Canada attending Cambridge. I had the advantage of a Cambridge education as a young Canadian and these awards are both an expression of gratitude as well as a gift to the young Canadians scholars who should excel at the university.’

He added further saying, ‘I think it gives [the scholars] a broad global perspective, which is hard to teach here in Canada…It gives them the sense that they can live abroad and be comfortable, and most importantly they can come back to Canada and use that global perspective to help the country.’

This year the recipients are Sumner Braund, for Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic at Pembroke; Yining Nie, for linguistics at Trinity; Hunter Spink, for mathematics at Trinity; and Angela Wan, for Biological Natural Sciences at Fitzwilliam.

Hunter Spink was a recipient of a gold medal, being ranked overall 11th in the world, in the 2010 International Mathematical Olympiad held in Kazakhstan. He said on hearing of his award: ‘It's an amazing feeling to have all three years paid for’, adding 'My parents are ecstatic about it.' Angela Wan talking about the scholarship said, ‘It feels surreal’.

Sumner Braund was happy for the opportunity to pursue her unique interest in Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic at Cambridge, saying ‘Being able to study history in the place that it actually happened will be an experience like no other.' The Cambridge Commonwealth Trust currently funds over 600 students, 94 of them Canadians.