A new fishing tournament at Lake Jacksonville hopes to raise proceeds for a new scholarship program to benefit local enforcement.
The Jacksonville Citizens Police Academy Alumni will host a bass tournament on April 26th at Lake Jacksonville. The event, coordinated by fundraising chairwoman Cindy Beddingfield and organizer Glenn Robson, is designed to bring a minimum of 20 two-person teams for one of the season’s first fishing tournaments.
Robson has organized the Bruce Robson Memorial Bass Tournament for more than two decades. Those proceeds have been shared among CPAA and other area groups; starting this year, proceeds for the Bruce Robson Memorial Tournament will benefit an education fund for a Robson grandson.
With that change in mind, Glenn Robson pitched the idea of a CPAA-branded spring tournament, with all proceeds going to CPAA. CPAA President Everett Beddingfield says the proceeds from the tournament will help provide additional funding for a new scholarship program: “We decided that we wanted to try to help out the community a little bit as well as help out the police department by starting a scholarship fund for anyone that’s interested in police-type academy work. When they go to school, then hopefully they will move on to the police force in some sort of way. Police departments are having such a hard time finding recruits or such as that anywhere in the United States. What we are trying to do is help them out by getting more people involved not only through the police department through our police academy alumni where we help the officers, but also giving them some education in that some more people may want to join in some sort of police department activity and join a force somewhere.”
The scholarship fund will announce its first winners in 2026 at the annual Policeman’s Ball. Special consideration will be given to students who have participated in the Teen Academy and/or Cadet program. Application information for the scholarship will be announced later this year. The first two scholarships are expected to be for $1,000 and $500 for local students majoring in law enforcement or criminal justice.
The bass tournament has a $100 entry fee per team, cash prizes and options for award buy-ins for biggest and smallest fish will also be open. A drawing for $100 will be offered to anyone who signs up for the tournament before April 19th.
Cash prizes, from $500 to $100, will be given for first- through fourth places. To sign up for the tournament or for more information, call Glenn Robson at 217-883-2742 or visit his Facebook page, or call CPAA President Everett Beddingfield at 217-370-0751.