Three O'ahu students are semifinalists in the National Achievement Scholarship Program.

Nationwide, more than 1,600 black high school seniors have been designated as semifinalists in the 44th annual Achievement Scholarship competition.

About 800 scholarships worth more than $2.5 million will be awarded next spring.

Hawai'i's semifinalists in the 2008 National Achievement Program include Krista L. Speroni of 'Iolani School, Joshua S. Tingman of Moanalua High School and Richard Galluzzi of Punahou School.

The National Achievement Program — conducted by National Merit Scholarship Corp. — is a privately financed academic competition that operates without government assistance. It was initiated in 1964 to recognize promising black students throughout the nation and to provide scholarships to a substantial number of the most outstanding participants.

About 1,300 semifinalists are expected to fulfill additional requirements and advance to the finalist level in the 2008 program. Scholars will be selected from the finalist group on the basis of their abilities, accomplishments and potential for success in rigorous college studies.

More than 140,000 high school juniors from all parts of the United States requested consideration in the 2008 National Achievement Program when they took the 2006 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. Semifinalists were designated within geographic regions and are the highest-scoring program entrants in the states of each region.

Scholarship winners will be named in early April.