Top high school students from the United States and beyond -- including 42 from North Carolina -- have been announced as Morehead-Cain Scholars at UNC-Chapel Hill.

The Morehead-Cain pays scholarship covers all expenses for four years of undergraduate study, including the cost of a laptop computer and four summer enrichment periods.

The scholarship is worth about $80,000 for in-state students and $140,000 for out-of-state students.

Six additional scholars were chosen - three from Great Britain and three from Canada.

The Morehead Scholarship and Morehead Foundation were renamed in February 2007 after the foundation received a $100 million grant from the Gordon and Mary Cain Foundation of Houston.

The winners were selected through a nomination and interview process involving more than 1,500 high school seniors who were nominated or applied for the grants. They were assessed based on leadership, academic achievement, moral force of character and physical vigor.

In the past six years, six Morehead Scholars have won Rhodes Scholarships to England's Oxford University, one of the world's most competitive and prestigious awards for graduate study.

The announcement included yet another honor this week for Durham student Shivani Sud, of Jordan High School. She has not only won the $100,000 Intel Science Award for her research in colon cancer, but has also been selected for both UNC's Morehead-Cain Scholarship and NC State's Park Scholarship.

However, Sud has said she is likely to attend an Ivy League school.

Area winners, listed by counties of residence, include:

Alamance: Tyler Johnson Cook, Graham High School;

Durham: Jessica Nicole Anderson, N.C. School of Science and Mathematics; Shivani Sud, Charles E. Jordan Senior High School;

Johnston: Danielle Marguerite Heider, West Johnston High School;

Nash: John Randolph Deans, Rocky Mount High School; Ann Emmad Soltan, Rocky Mount High School;

Orange: Siyuan Peter Sheng, East Chapel Hill High School;

Wake: Shenise Nicole Gilyard, Southeast Raleigh Magnet High School; Adam Migliore Meyer, Raleigh Charter High School; William Griffin Morrel IV, Cary Christian School; William Harris Thomason, Cary High School; Alice HwaChuan Yen of William G. Enloe High School;

For more information:

Online: www.moreheadcain.org

Phone: 962-1201.