This award is to encourage undergraduate students to get involved in the exciting new fields of existential positive psychology (EPP). Winners will be awarded one of 5 one-year INPM Student Membership, generously donated by Don Laird from eTalkTherapy, LLC. All undergraduate students are encouraged to submit a brief essay indicating why they are interested in learning more about EPP (see Wong 2021, 2023; Wong et al., 2021). Topics include:

1. Is happiness a right or is it earned?
2. Is it possible to live a meaningful life in a post-pandemic era?
3. How is the meaning of being human challenged by the rapid development of robot and artificial intelligence (AI) technology?
4. What is the meaning of love in a post-pandemic world?
5. What is the use of university education when it cannot guarantee a good quality of life (e.g., employment or being able to pay my bills)?
6. What are your hopes or dreams for the future?

PRIZES

As judged by a panel of adjudicators consisting of Don Laird, Paul T. P. Wong, and Tim Yu, the five selected winners will receive a one-year INPM Student Membership with the following benefits:

1. Free subscription to the Quarterly Positive Living Newsletter.
2. Access to the Meaningful Living Group and its materials.
3. 20% discounts on INPM workshop, conference, and Summer Institute registration.
4. 20% discount on INPM Publications.
5. Free subscription and submission to our peer-reviewed online Journal.
6. Expert consultation on meaning-focused research and clinical applications.
7. Access to the INPM’s online learning library archive of previous workshop and conference recordings.

After the first round of selection, all five winners will have the opportunity to have their expanded papers published in the International Journal of Existential Positive Psychology.

Winners will be notified by December 1, 2023

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All undergraduate students are invited to submit their papers to tim.inpm@gmail.com no later than 11:59 PM on November 1^st, 2023

1. The email subject line should be “INPM Student Membership Award | Author Name(s)”
2. The attached file(s) should be .docx or .doc (or .rtf for those without Microsoft Word)
3. Text should be single-spaced, Times New Roman, 12-pt font
4. Your submission should be 300-500 words (main text)
5. We encourage APA 7^th formatting and referencing
6. Submissions should be authored by only one undergraduate who is interested in becoming a student member of INPM (winners may be asked for their student identification). Each student may only submit one submission for this award.

After the first round of selection, all five winners will expand their submission to a short paper (1000 words), and after a courtesy review, have it published in the International Journal of Existential Positive Psychology. (This publication can include the student’s supervisor as a second author)

References

Wong, P. T. P. (2021). What is existential positive psychology (PP 2.0)? Why is it necessary for mental health during the pandemic? International Journal of Existential Positive Psychology, 10(1), 1–16. https://www.meaning.ca/ijepp-article/vol10-no1/what-is-existential-positive-psychology-pp-2-0-why-is-it-necessary-for-mental-health-during-the-pandemic/

Wong, P. T. P. (2023). Spiritual-existential wellbeing (SEW): The faith-hope-love model of mental health and total wellbeing. International Journal of Existential Positive Psychology, 12(1). https://www.meaning.ca/ijepp-article/vol12-no1/spiritual-existential-wellbeing/

Wong, P. T. P., Mayer, C.-H., & Arslan, G. (Eds.). (2021b). Existential Positive Psychology (PP2.0) and the new science of flourishing through suffering [Editorial]. Frontiers. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.800308/full