The Los Angeles Film Critics Association congratulates Breanna Barton-Shaw as the 2018 recipient of the LAFCA Ruth Batchelor Scholarship. The award was established in honor of the organization’s founder Ruth Batchelor to encourage and support aspiring female film critics. Born to a homeless family that was always on the move, Ms. Barton-Shaw has relied on film to understand the world and people around her since childhood. This passion for movies — watching, writing, and discussing them — led her to Los Angeles to attend school at Los Angeles City College in East Hollywood. There, she was invited to participate in Mayor Eric Garcetti’s inaugural year of the Evolve Entertainment Fund to further the inclusion of minorities and women into the film industry by sponsoring a gateway into studios, agencies, and production companies. By association, she was ultimately accepted as an AMPAS Academy Gold Intern for the summer of 2018 where local and international students met and learned from industry professionals in workshops and lecture panels. Now a literary packaging intern at William Morris Endeavor, she looks forward to a career that includes, but is not limited to, revisionist film history, criticism, and international development. She will receive the $500 award at the 44th annual LAFCA awards ceremony on Saturday, January 12, 2019, at the InterContinental, Los Angeles