DALLAS, May 3, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- This year, Kimberly-Clark celebrates the 20th year of the Bright Futures program and is awarding college scholarships totaling $1.3 million to 65 children of K-C employees across 15 states and Canada. Bright Futures scholarship grants are worth up to $20,000, or $5,000 per school year, for full-time students attending accredited colleges and universities. Since its inception, the program has awarded over $34 million in scholarships to more than 1700 students.

Recipients were chosen based on academic achievement, leadership, work experience and involvement in extracurricular activities.

"There is no better investment a company can make than in the next generation of leaders for our communities," said Thomas J. Falk, chairman and CEO of Kimberly-Clark.  "Our Bright Futures Scholarship Program helps further the education of employees' children who demonstrate the potential to be these future leaders.  We are delighted to recognize these students' accomplishments and help them with their college education."

The average GPA for this year's scholarship class is 3.96, and awardees will attend such top colleges as Georgia Institute of Technology, Emory, Stanford, Vanderbilt, University of Notre Dame and Oral Roberts University. Past scholarship recipients have gone on to pursue successful careers in medicine, education, the armed forces and engineering.

For more information on this year's award recipients, visit www.kimberly-clark.com.

About the Kimberly-Clark Foundation
The Kimberly-Clark Foundation is the charitable arm of Kimberly-Clark Corporation and is dedicated to supporting and strengthening families around the world. For more information, visit http://www.kimberly-clark.com/ourcompany/community/kc_foundation.aspx.

About Kimberly-Clark
Kimberly-Clark and its well-known global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 175 countries. Every day, nearly a quarter of the world's population trust K-C's brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being. With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds the No. 1 or No. 2 share position in more than 80 countries. To keep up with the latest K-C news and to learn more about the company's 140-year history of innovation, visit www.kimberly-clark.com.

SOURCE Kimberly-Clark Corporation