Students Respond to NPG's Scholarship Contest!

For more than 15 years, NPG has offered various scholarship opportunities to college-aged students as part of our broad public education initiatives. We are always very encouraged by the number of young minds who believe in our cause and submit their work to be considered for the top scholarship prize.

With the submission period closed for NPG’s 2021 Essay Scholarship Contest and the judges finalizing the winners, we want to share the wonderful responses we have received from this year’s applicants. This year we received nearly 900 scholarship essay entries and over 650 of the applicants took the time to complete our survey. We asked students to answer a few simple questions and provide feedback on their experience with our scholarship contest.

Our brief survey included the following questions:

1. Did you pay much attention to population-related issues before you decided to compete for an NPG scholarship?

No – 182

Yes – 490

2. Do you believe that learning about population growth and overpopulation has personally proven to be a valuable eye-opening lesson?

No – 15

Yes – 657

3. Please share your comments with us about our scholarship contest.

Here are a few samples of the hundreds of thoughtful comments submitted.

Before I started working on the NPG scholarship, I had no idea that the effects of population growth on the environment were so significant. I learned a lot during my research for the scholarship and I now believe that measures should be put into place to try to reduce population growth.

I was surprised when researching this topic that overpopulation was such an existential threat to our society, and I found it fascinating to learn about.

While I was aware of population related issues before undertaking this essay, researching points for the submission did provide new information and points I had not previously considered. I will continue to advocate for societal and legislative change in order to stem population growth and return the global population to a more sustainable size.

It was encouraging and exciting to learn that so many students already had population related issues on their radar and that others felt learning about population growth and overpopulation was worthwhile.

Secure Your Honorary Scholarship

This week, NPG staff is making the final decisions to determine this year’s scholarship winners from a pool of nearly 900 entries. Today, we are inviting our most dedicated friends—like you—to participate in one of two NPG Scholarship options.

OPTION 1

Lend your name – or the name of a loved one – to one of several scholarships which NPG will award. A minimum gift of $1,000 is requested to secure an Honorary Scholarship in your name or to memorialize a friend or loved one.

CLICK HERE TO SECURE AN HONORARY SCHOLARSHIP

It is because of generous members like you that we are able to continue this important program. Thank you for working with us to reach the hearts and minds of the next generation!

OPTION 2

If a gift of $1,000 or more to have a scholarship named in your honor is not possible at this time, I sincerely hope that you will make a generous contribution of $30, $50, $100 or whatever amount you can afford to help us build a scholarship fund of $5,000 to truly memorialize Don’s incredible insight and determination to protect our planet from environmental ruin.

As you have likely read in an NPG email announcement and on the NPG website, NPG President and Founding Director Donald W. Mann passed away peacefully at his home in Florida on May 1, 2021.

Don believed so deeply in the policies of Negative Population Growth that he devoted the latter half of his life to our cause. From the inception of NPG in 1972 until his death, Don worked tirelessly to advance efforts to achieve a smaller, truly sustainable, U.S. and world population. To honor his legacy, NPG will dedicate the top prize for this year’s scholarship program to Don Mann.

The Grand Prize winner this year will receive the first award of $5,000 from the newly-created Donald W. Mann Memorial Scholarship for Population Studies from NPG.

CLICK HERE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

Recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofit organization, all contributions to NPG are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.

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