Alicia Crawford of La Quinta, Calif. has won Sony Online Entertainment's 2011 Gamers in Real Life (G.I.R.L.) Scholarship! The game art and design student at the Inland Empire’s Art Institute of California was awarded the $10,000 scholarship to use toward her tuition and other educational expenses. She has also accepted a 10-week paid internship at SOE’s headquarters in San Diego where she will work on one of the company’s titles.

First awarded in 2008, the G.I.R.L. scholarship was created by SOE to encourage students toward career paths in the creative and applied arts, with the ultimate goal of developing video games that are more interesting for women to play. For more information on the scholarship, visit the official G.I.R.L. site and follow the program on Facebook and Twitter. Congratulations Alicia!