Four Lawrence high school seniors won $2,500 National Merit scholarships, officials say.

Lynn Feng and Rebekah Heacock of Free State High School and Nicholas Allen and Benet Magnuson of Lawrence High School were among 2,500 U.S. students to earn the prestigious award in the second round of an annual competition identifying students with great potential for success in college.

Allen and Magnuson may study journalism, while Heacock’s interest is in education. Feng is undecided.

Thirty-four Kansans were on the list of winners released today by National Merit Scholarship Corp. of Evanston, Ill. Their awards are financed all or in part by NMSC.

This was the second of four announcements for scholarship winners.

Sam Knowlton, a Lawrence resident attending a private high school in Colorado Springs, Colo., was recipient of a corporate scholarship in the first round of the competition. There were 1,100 corporate-sponsored awards.

In May and July, announcements will be made on 4,000 university-sponsored National Merit awards.

More than 1.2 million juniors took the Merit Scholarship qualifying exam, which served as an initial screen of program entrants. Only 16,000 were declared semifinalists, and 15,000 became finalists for the awards.

By the conclusion of the competition, 7,600 high school seniors will have won scholarships worth about $30 million.