The Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority has announced the 2026 Promote Your School Scholarship Contest, open to rising juniors at Kentucky public and private high schools. Essay submissions are due Aug. 1.
The winner will receive a $500 scholarship and a photo shoot at their school, sponsored by KHEAA. The winning student and their school will be featured in the 2027–2028 edition of Getting In, Kentucky’s premier college guide.
“The Promote Your School Scholarship Contest is special because it allows us to feature Kentucky students in every edition of Getting In, while supporting them as they pursue their educational goals,” said Executive Director Jo Carole Ellis. “We look forward to honoring a student and a school community every year.”
KHEAA recently published the 2026–2027 edition of Getting In, which it has produced annually since 1976. Anthony Lin is featured on the Getting In cover after winning KHEAA s 2025 Promote Your School Scholarship Contest. Lin wrote his essay while attending his former school, Rowan County Senior High School. He is now a current student at The Gatton Academy of Mathematics and Science High School.
Contest Guidelines
A school must participate in the Kentucky Educational Excellence Scholarship (KEES) program for one of its students to be eligible to enter.
To be considered for the scholarship, students must submit an essay addressing one of these subjects:
• Describe a memorable experience at your school where people came together to achieve a goal or overcome a challenge; or
• Discuss how education makes a community stronger.
The essay must have no more than 200 words and cannot mention the student’s name, school, mascot, county, community, race, gender, religion or other identifying marker. Judges will consider the use of artificial intelligence to generate an essay as immediate disqualification. Consider adding specific, personal examples in your submission.
The essay topic must be clearly indicated at the top of the page. The student’s name, address and high school must be listed at the bottom of the essay. The student must be a high school junior during the 2026–2027 school year. For contest details, visit kheaa.com.
Photos from the winning school will be used in KHEAA publications and on KHEAA websites.
To enter, email your essay to publications@kheaa.com or mail it to KHEAA Publications, P.O. Box 798, Frankfort, KY 40602. KHEAA cannot accept entries submitted through online file-sharing sites.
The winner will be chosen through a blind review process by a committee of KHEAA employees and will receive the scholarship upon entering college as a freshman.
Students from high schools that have been featured in the past five years — Rowan County Senior High School, Eminence High School, Madison Southern High School, Frankfort High School and Butler County High School — are not eligible to enter this year’s contest.
Kentucky Higher Education Assistance Authority