The Entertainment Software Association's charitable arm, the ESA Foundation, is offering 30 scholarships to women and minorities who aspire to get a job in the games industry.

The amount of scholarships is double the 15 that were available in each of the past two years. The awards are worth $90K in total, and for the first time in the program's three year history are available to high school students.

Scholarships are also available to full-time students at accredited four-year colleges and universities. The scholarships apply to students pursuing videogame careers in the field of graphic design, computer science, animation, programming, digital entertainment or software engineering.

Students may apply online for one $3,000 scholarship for the 2009-2010 academic year until May 15.