Ben Oki Scholarship

California Bonsai Society is proud to announce The Ben Oki Bonsai Scholarships

The California Bonsai Society (CBS) has set up a scholarship fund to honor Ben Oki - a man who devoted most of his life to enjoying and sharing bonsai. Ben was happiest when he was sharing his knowledge or working on a tree. To honor that sharing spirit Ben had we will be making five $200.00 grants available to anyone in the bonsai community to be used to attend classes, a workshop or other bonsai related educational activity. To apply, the applicant should write a short note detailing what they’d like to do with the funds - funds can be used for classes, materials to bring to a class, workshops, etc. as long as it is geared towards improving one’s bonsai skills and knowledge with an outside source. They cannot be used to just buy a piece of material to work on your own.
Applicants who receive scholarships agree that in return for these funds within 15 days of completing class etc. they will provide CBS with photos and a short write up of what they did with the funds. This will be published on our website and in our newsletter.
The application period will be from April 15th through May 30th annually with the scholarships awarded by June 15th. Applications will be accepted from anyone in the bonsai community.
The scholarship will be awarded by random drawing.
Anyone in the bonsai community can apply by sending a short note stating that they are applying for the Ben Oki Scholarship. Applications should include name, address and email of applicant as well as name of teacher, workshop leader etc. and dates of said classes or workshops or other activity to improve one’s bonsai knowledge. All applications need to be postmarked by May 30th.
Applications should be mailed via US postal service to
Ben Oki Scholarship
c/o 17230 Roscoe Blvd. Northridge CA 91325

Nice way to honor Ben Oki...thanks for posting!

The application period is now open and anyone in the world bonsai community ( that can accept a check from an American bank) is eligible to apply

The winners of the inaugural Ben Oki Bonsai Scholarship have been chosen. I want to thank everyone that took the time to apply and to encourage everyone that did not win to apply again next year. The winners are Michael Downey of Dallas North Carolina- he wants to use his award for a class with Bjorn Bjornholm, Octavia Chin of West Covina, CA who wants to take more classes with Peter Macasieb, Michael Shelly of San Diego, CA who will use it towards classes with Ryan Neil, Sylvia Anderson of Antelope, CA who wants to use it at a workshop at this years GSBF convention, and Leslie Rinchen-Wongmo of Oxnard, CA who wants to use it for monthly classes at Kimura Bonsai. Congratulations to all our winners. Remember this comes with a commitment that you will each do a short write up about what you did and take a couple of photos that we will post on our website. You will all be receiving your checks within the next couple of weeks.