DENTON (UNT), Texas – The University of North Texas has selected three winners of the Ricco Ethics Scholarship Competition for the Fall 2023 semester.

The competition promotes ethical and intellectual debate related to a UNT student’s field of study. The goal is to help applicants reach new heights of understanding, reasoning and self-discipline in their subject area.

The scholarship began in 2011 thanks to an endowment from Nicholas D. and Anna G. Ricco, longtime friends of the university.

First-place awards were given in the graduate and undergraduate categories. Second place was also awarded in the undergraduate category.

The 2023 Ricco Ethics Scholarship winners are:

First place graduate ($5,000) — “We’re All in This Together: The Ethics of Care and CEO Pay-Cuts” by Sara Tonge, a teaching fellow and doctoral candidate in philosophy and religion in the College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences and Toulouse Graduate School

First place undergraduate ($5,000) — “An Ethical Standard Raising the Minimum Wage” by Kiana Kawahara, a junior studying flute performance in the College of Music

Second place undergraduate ($2,000) — “Corporate Welfare and Stoic Virtue” by Connor Kokora, a mechanical engineering junior in the College of Engineering

The funds will be applied to fall semester balances. The scholarship is open to full-time undergraduate and graduate students in good academic standing.