University High School Student Wins Statewide Video Contest About Population
TUCSON, AZ– Joyce Wang, a student at University High School in Tucson, has won the $1,000 grand prize in a video contest sponsored by the Population Media Center’s Arizona Chapter. Her video, “Fuel,” featured Tucson street scenes and showed the contributions to climate change caused by everyday actions such as driving, using a cellphone, or washing laundry.
The video contest was open to high school students throughout Arizona and featured cash prizes for creating a short video exploring how a rapidly growing human population might impact the world, Arizona, or the student’s future quality of life. The contest was called “One Planet, Many People.”
“We are pleased that the contest gave the students a chance to develop their creative skills and at the same time learn how population growth will directly impact their futures,” says Keith Kaback, Executive Director of Population Media Center’s Arizona Chapter. “And with teachers indicating an interest in incorporating the contest into their curricula, we hope to make the contest an annual event.”
Wang’s video noted that world population grew from 1.6 to 6.1 billion during the last century and proposed solutions to lessen the environmental impacts of projected growth in the human population to 10 billion. Her video also won the prize for best technical presentation, one of the special category prizes with rewards of $250 each.
Jacob Hancock, a senior at Santa Rita High School received the special category prize for the video best demonstrating the impact of continued population growth on today’s students. His video, “Project Overflow,” linked population growth to increases in student/teacher ratios and demand for natural resources.
A team of four freshman biology students from Sunnyside High School won the award for best presentation of the environmental impacts of population growth. “One Planet, Many People: Effects of Overpopulation” by Victor Armstrong, Citlalli Galindo, Jordan Martin, and Cesar Martinez showed that the world adds more than 200,000 people to its population per day and emphasized that space is not the only problem. Their video tied population growth to water and food shortages. The team’s video also proposed solutions, ranging from renewable energy to small families.
All winning videos will be available for viewing on Population Media Center’s website. Population Media Center is an international nonprofit that uses media to educate citizens about family and reproductive health, gender equity, and the benefits of small families for the environment. Population Media Center programs have appeared in more than 50 countries. The Arizona chapter promotes understanding and discussion of the global impact of population growth and the local impact on Arizona’s citizens and environment.
ABOUT POPULATION MEDIA CENTER (PMC):
Population Media Center is a nonprofit, international nongovernmental organization, which strives to improve the health and well-being of people around the world through the use of entertainment-education strategies, like serialized dramas on radio and television, in which characters evolve into role models for the audience for positive behavior change. Founded in 1998, PMC has over 15 years of field experience using the Sabido methodology of behavior change communications, impacting more than 50 countries around the world. www.populationmedia.org