The TextPrep Momentum Scholarship — Official Rules
One great study tip. One text. $1,000 toward your education.
1. Overview
The TextPrep Momentum Scholarship (the “Scholarship”) is a merit-based scholarship awarding one (1) prize of $1,000 (USD) credited toward the winner's tuition and required enrollment fees. The award is judged entirely on the quality of a short written submission, as scored against the published rubric in Section 9. This is a contest of skill, not a sweepstakes or game of chance — no element of luck determines the winner.
NO PURCHASE OR SUBSCRIPTION IS NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. Signing up for TextPrep, or any other paid or unpaid product, does not improve an applicant's chance of winning and is not a condition of entry.
2. Sponsor
The Scholarship is sponsored and administered by Natick Media LLC (“Sponsor”), a Massachusetts limited liability company, operator of TextPrep.org. Mailing address: 881 Worcester St, Suite 1, #1111, Natick, MA 01760. Questions: hello@textprep.org.
3. Scholarship Period
- Submissions open: 12:00 a.m. ET, September 21, 2026
- Submission deadline: 11:59 p.m. ET, May 1, 2027
- Winner announced: on or before May 15, 2027
Submissions received after the deadline will not be considered. Sponsor's clock is the official timekeeper.
4. Eligibility
The Scholarship is open to individuals who, as of the submission deadline, are:
- At least sixteen (16) years of age; and
- Legal residents of the fifty (50) United States or the District of Columbia; and
- Currently enrolled in, or planning to enroll in, a college, university, or graduate program (including students preparing for the SAT, PSAT, ACT, or GRE).
Applicants under the age of 18 (or the age of majority in their state) must have the permission of a parent or legal guardian to enter, must provide that parent or guardian's name and email address, and must affirm on the application form that permission has been given. Sponsor will notify the parent or guardian by email that an entry has been submitted.
Entry is open to applicants who are planning to apply to college, but payment of the award is conditioned on the winner's acceptance to a college, university, or graduate program — see Section 10.
Not eligible: employees, contractors, and immediate family members (spouse, parent, child, sibling) of, or persons living in the same household as, anyone involved in administering or judging the Scholarship. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.
5. How to Enter
To enter, complete the application form at textprep.org/scholarship and submit your study tip. A complete entry includes:
- Your study tip, in 280 characters or fewer (about the length of one text message). See Section 6.
- Your first and last name, email address, city and state of residence, date of birth, the school you plan or hope to attend, and your expected enrollment timing.
- Optionally, a phone number. A phone number is used only to contact a potential winner about the award. It is never used for marketing and is never used to send TextPrep text messages.
- For applicants under 18: a parent or legal guardian's name and email address, and the applicant's affirmation that the parent or guardian has given permission to enter. Sponsor will notify that parent or guardian by email that an entry has been submitted. See Section 4.
Limit one (1) entry per person. Duplicate or multiple entries from the same person will be disqualified. Entry is free. You may optionally choose to sign up for TextPrep daily texts on the form, but you are not required to do so, and choosing not to does not affect judging in any way.
6. Submission Requirements
Your submission is a single, original study, test-prep, or motivation tip — a hack, habit, or piece of advice that helps a student stay consistent and keep momentum.
Submissions must:
- Be 280 characters or fewer (spaces count; emojis are fine).
- Be original to you and not copied from another source.
- Be in English.
- Be appropriate for a general audience: no profanity, hate speech, harassment, sexual content, promotion of cheating or academic dishonesty, dangerous advice, or unlawful content.
- Not contain third-party trademarks, copyrighted material, or personal information about anyone other than yourself.
Human-created submissions. The study tip must reflect the entrant's own idea and original expression. Entrants may use ordinary spelling and grammar tools, but submissions generated in whole or substantial part by generative artificial intelligence are not eligible. Sponsor may request reasonable confirmation of authorship from a potential winner.
Sponsor may disqualify any submission that violates these requirements or these Rules, at its sole discretion.
7. Ownership and License
You retain ownership of your submission. By entering, you grant Sponsor a worldwide, royalty-free, perpetual, non-exclusive license to use, reproduce, format, excerpt, or make non-substantive edits for spelling, grammar, or length, provided such edits do not materially change the meaning, publish, and distribute your submission (in whole or in part) for purposes of operating, promoting, and marketing TextPrep and the Scholarship, including displaying or delivering the submission through TextPrep products, websites, social media, email, and SMS — with attribution by first name, last initial, and state only (e.g., “Maya R., Ohio”), and never with your full contact information. You represent that your submission is your own original work and that you have the right to grant this license.
8. Judging
Submissions will be reviewed and scored by a panel of at least two (2) judges selected by Sponsor based on their experience with education, test preparation, writing, student learning, or related fields, which may include TextPrep team members and/or outside educators. Each submission is scored against the rubric in Section 9. Each eligible submission is independently scored by each judge, and the judges' scores are averaged to produce the submission's final score. The submission with the highest final score wins. In the event of a tie in final scores, tied submissions will be ranked by their averaged Insight score; if a tie remains, by Usefulness, then Clarity, then Spirit. If a tie still remains, the tied submissions will be independently re-evaluated by an additional qualified judge using the full rubric. No element of chance is used at any stage.
Judging is based solely on the merit of the submission. Applicant identity, location, school, and whether the applicant uses any TextPrep product are not factors in scoring.
9. Judging Rubric
Each submission is scored on a 20-point scale across four criteria:
| Criterion | What judges look for | Points |
|---|---|---|
| Insight | Is the tip genuinely smart or non-obvious? Does it reflect real understanding of how learning or motivation works? | 0–8 |
| Usefulness | Could a busy student actually apply this tomorrow? Is it practical and realistic, not generic (“study more”)? | 0–6 |
| Clarity | Is it expressed cleanly and understandably within the character limit? Every word earning its place is rewarded. | 0–4 |
| Spirit | Does it fit the momentum/anti-overwhelm ethos — helping students stay consistent without burning out? | 0–2 |
| Total | /20 |
A submission scoring 0 on Insight (no substantive idea) may be set aside regardless of other scores.
10. Prize
One (1) prize: $1,000 (USD), paid as a scholarship credited toward the winner's tuition and required enrollment fees.
Payment method: To preserve the educational nature of the award, the prize will be paid directly to the winner's accredited educational institution and credited toward the winner's tuition and required enrollment fees. Before disbursement, the winner must provide (a) proof of identity, (b) documentation of acceptance to, or current enrollment at, that institution — an acceptance letter, enrollment verification, or equivalent — and (c) a payment contact at the institution to which Sponsor can remit funds (for example, the bursar's or student accounts office), including the office name and remittance instructions. If the winner has not yet been accepted or enrolled at the time of the award, Sponsor will hold the award until September 1, 2028 pending that documentation. If the winner does not provide acceptance documentation by that date, Sponsor may declare the award forfeited and select the next-highest-scoring submission. The prize is non-transferable and may not be exchanged for cash paid to the winner. No substitutions except by Sponsor.
Taxes: The winner (and/or the winner's parent or guardian) is solely responsible for any taxes that may apply to the award and for consulting their own tax advisor. Sponsor may require completion of tax or identity-verification forms before disbursing the award.
11. Winner Notification
The winner will be notified by email and/or phone using the contact information provided, on or before the date in Section 3. A potential winner is subject to verification of eligibility and compliance with these Rules before being declared the official winner. If a selected winner cannot be reached within seven (7) days, fails to respond, declines the prize, or (if under 18) cannot provide parent/guardian confirmation, Sponsor may disqualify that applicant and select the next-highest-scoring submission. As part of verification, Sponsor may request the winner's full mailing address.
12. Publicity
By accepting the prize, the winner (and, if a minor, the winner's parent/guardian) agrees that Sponsor may publish the winner's first name, last initial, state, and winning submission for promotional purposes without further compensation. Sponsor will not publish a minor's full name, full image, contact information, or school without separate written parent/guardian permission.
13. Privacy
Information collected from applicants is used only to administer the Scholarship and is handled under TextPrep's Privacy Policy at textprep.org/privacy. Sponsor does not sell applicant information. Information collected through scholarship entry will not be used to send marketing messages unless the entrant separately opts in. Opting into TextPrep texts is voluntary and separate from entry; applicants who opt in may opt out at any time per the Privacy Policy and standard STOP instructions.
14. General Conditions
Sponsor may disqualify any entrant who tampers with the entry process, violates these Rules, or acts in an unsporting or disruptive manner. Sponsor reserves the right to modify, suspend, or cancel the Scholarship if fraud, technical failure, or any factor beyond its reasonable control compromises the integrity of the program; in that event Sponsor will award the prize from among eligible, compliant entries received up to the point of the affected event, judged on merit. These Rules are governed by the laws of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This Scholarship is void where prohibited.
By entering, applicants agree to these Official Rules and to the decisions of the judges and Sponsor, which are final and binding on all matters relating to the Scholarship.
The TextPrep Momentum Scholarship is administered by Natick Media LLC. TextPrep is not affiliated with the College Board, ACT, Inc., ETS, or any testing organization.