Nationwide, there are about 16,000 semifinalists in the 53rd annual National Merit Scholarship Program, according to National Merit Scholarship Corporation officials.

The semifinalists are in the running for some 8,200 Merit Scholarship awards, worth $34 million, that will be offered next spring.

More than 1.4 million high school juniors in nearly 21,000 high schools entered the 2008 program by taking the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, which served as an initial screen of program entrants.

The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a finalist, a semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by the school principal, and earn SAT scores that confirm the student's earlier qualifying test performance. The semifinalist and a school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, which includes the student's self-descriptive essay and information about the semifinalist's participation and leadership in school and community activities.

Merit Scholarship winners of 2008 will be announced beginning in April and concluding in July.

Hawai'i's semifinalists for the 2008 National Merit Scholarship Program:

O'AHU

Academy of the Pacific

Sky L. Achitoff

Damien Memorial High School

Christopher A. Ballesteros

Hanalani High School

Royce G. Tabora

'Iolani School

Lyndsey M. Arakawa

Christian B. Brady

Signe H. Chambers

Alanna Y. Cooney

Maegan L. Doi

Derek R. Fainberg

Aaron Y. Fong

Jonathan C. Fung

Ryan C. Gomoto

Allison M. Hasegawa

Kimberlee A. Hashiba

Mari R. Heslinga

Pamela H. Ho

Kate M. Ikehara

David P. Jaress

John Jin

Scott K. Kaneshiro

Reid Y. Kawamoto

Leslie N. Kim

Aleksi W. Lee

Colleen Y. Lundy

Alissa A. Masutani,

Joshua L. Michaels,

Elizabeth M. Murphy,

Julia A. Nishioka,

Clay K. Ozaki-Train,

Braxton Sato

Robert H. Shimizu

Christina A. Tamaru

Annalyse M. Tamashiro

Yutaro Tsukikawa

Marisa Wang

Kaiser High School

Alexandra M. Boland

Dylan L. Howard

John J. Pyun

Kamehameha Schools

David Choy

Nathan J. Nakatsuka

Elisa K. Tsukayama

Mid Pacific Institute

Eliot St. John

Miliani High School

Philip Mocz

Punahou School

Dustin S. Bingham

David M. Clifton

Kelsey A. Conklin

Chiara Essig

Richard Galluzzi

Hayden Hashimoto

Travis R. Ing

Stephen L. Kwong

Christopher K. Lau

Mari A. Miyoshi

Allyson L. Mizumoto-Gitter

Ananya Ray

Samuel A. Roeca

Nikolai C. Stieglitz

Shane R. Wo

Thomas Z. Young

Lili Zhao

St. Louis School

Kevin J. Donahue

home-school

Kenji O. Fukunaga

Emily K. Metcalf

BIG ISLAND

St. Joesph's High School

Hannah J. Katibah

Waiakea High School

Stacey K. Torigoe

KAUA'I

Kaua'i High School

Nicole A. Gaetjens

MAUI

Seabury Hall

Lydia E. Lund