ABOUT
About
The Yass
Prize & STOP
Award Initiative
The Yass Prize for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding and Permissionless education is a rapidly growing effort to find, reward, celebrate and expand best-in-class education organizations from every sector, in every state, and to create unprecedented partnerships that accelerate impact with the speed and urgency our students deserve.
In 2022, the Yass Prize organization awarded $20 million to winners, alumni and special state initiatives. Read more about them here and encourage others to apply. The 2023 application opens March 23rd!

2023 Yass Prize Launch
The Yass Prize, in partnership with Forbes Media, kicked off this year’s search for the next $1M winner, in New York, New York. If you missed this not-to-be-missed event with CEO Steve Forbes, Yass Prize Founder Janine Yass and our incredible current awardees, watch it here and get inspired about the future of Education.


Our Story
In August 2021, the $1 million STOP Award to Transform Education was created to honor and advance the work of education providers that continued to perform for underserved families during Covid, and ensure they not only could continue but expand to serve more students and be a beacon for thousands more educators and innovators dedicated to education opportunity for all young people.
In just four short months, hundreds of inspirational education providers were uncovered. These outliers were doing everything from starting new schools in museums and churches to developing new models for learning with artificial intelligence. Twenty of the best providers were identified, and a robust evaluation and pitch process was held. In December 2021, in addition to the Grand Prize winner Discovery Center of Springfield, MO, the four finalists received contributions of $250,000 and the remaining semifinalists were surprised with $100,000 grants for their extraordinary work. They were and are the impetus for this new STOP Foundation 4 Education, which is owing to a couple whose inspiration, generosity and vision is unparalleled.

Building A Movement
Once the first round of finalists are chosen, they participate in a fast-paced and jam-packed Accelerator which drives them into unique conversations with industry experts from the fields of journalism, finance, politics, and beyond, who in turn end up utlizing the expertise of the Yass Prize cohort members. Throughout, the participants at every stage of the competition are fueling new pathways that enable more students to have access to what they deliver, and advocating for change to make it happen for others. “Enlightening doesn’t even come close” to describing the experience, said one of the participants. We couldn’t agree more.

Janine Yass

Jeff Yass
Meet Our Founders
Our Partners
We’re proud to be powered by the Center for Education Reform (CER) whose mission is to expand educational opportunities that lead to improved outcomes for all Americans.
With support from Forbes Media, the Yass Prize and its awardees benefit from an iconic American media institution and its influence and impact.
Meet The Team
Careers
Join our incredible team at The Yass Prize as we transform education across America!
Read our Annual Report
We’re proud to be supported by the Center for Education Reform (CER). CER is a non-profit advocacy group committed to influencing education policy.
Remember, you are doing the work of civilization.
You are planting the seeds of a better world, despite any bad news, you’re doing great things.
What has been created here at the accelerator is truly incredible.
We may never know how pivotal this really is for education in America right here, right now. This group of people will work together to force real change permissionlessly.
Entrepreneurs are people who teach us about needs we don’t know we need.
This is the fundamental basis of what we are doing.
We are so inspired by the Yass Prize participants, semi-finalists, and the courage, innovation and leadership of educators from across the country who have amplified the application of their brilliance to make the lives of their students better as they faced the daunting challenges of the pandemic.
The real source of wealth in society is the human mind, not material things, because with the human mind, great wealth can be created.
Humbled to be considered in such great company.
We hope to create a shift in the education scene that really focuses on how to orient schools to the lived outcomes of our kids in the communities that they live in. Here's to abundance & great things for all of our kids.
When you are trying to advance and think beyond the status quo, this can be a lonely place, because our systems are structured to do the same thing.
It is important to surround yourself with like-minded individuals who foster innovation.
We may not agree on much of anything, but one thing that is a uniting force that we all agree on is that education opens doors, it’s the great equalizer.
I'm deeply humbled and grateful to be part of this group.
The last month has been a tremendous experience and I'm so inspired and motivated by the amazing work this group is doing. Collectively, we’re working towards a real-world goal and it’s leaving me empowered and motivated to apply what we learn.
The fact that education has become partisan is upsetting, and I just hope that this award will encourage more states to view this as a bipartisan issue.
Success happens after many pivots and changes.
If you get to the accelerator after the application process, go in knowing you already won.
The fact that you are now with a group of your peers you really get to see how world class the education profession is.
This group of innovators has the opportunity to show the world what is possible for kids, what doesn't yet exist for so many children who deserve the opportunity to be entrepreneurs and to shine as out of the box thinkers.
This group of innovators has the opportunity to show the world what is possible for kids, what doesn't yet exist for so many children who deserve the opportunity to be entrepreneurs and to shine as out of the box thinkers.
Entrepreneurs are the engine of the innovation economy.
The work this remarkable group has accomplished is not only inspirational but can be transformative for millions more students.
There are so many heroes who responded to the Covid crisis in the education sector.
You were focused on kids and families. You did what you had to do and we are so grateful for that. We created this award to honor your work and we knew if we built it you would come.
What is good for families is good for the school because families want great schools.
Our Yass Prize partnership with Forbes and CER has been one of the best things we’ve done in education over the past 25 years.
The chance to be part of this group is a big gust of wind in the sails of New Way Global.
Being in this group has filled me with renewed hope and determination to push forward on big dreams for great education for the least served in our community and beyond.
It's not the university someone graduated from or the degree they hold.
Do they have the resilience and perseverance? Do they have grit? It's the most important skill.
We often jump to the what, without thinking with the community about the why.
You are in a moment in history that we have never seen before.
Any of us with a disruptive idea have a shot at trying to prove something.
I hope you all think about the fact that the impact you are having, you will never even know how widespread it is.
That’s the beauty of education, you impact lives in such a deep way.
Unfortunately, the bureaucracy that’s behind the school system is more interested in perpetuating jobs and keeping the system in place, rather than giving children the freedom they deserve.
We realized long ago that there’s a lot of money in the system, and it’s just not directed to the children.
The Yass Prize shines an important light on the heroes of education who fought valiantly to serve students and were often overlooked or dismissed.
It’s our commitment that their example is seen, learned about and replicated all over the nation.
I am still processing the magnitude of this experience and so grateful for meeting each and everyone of you.
I look forward to continuing our transformative work in our communities and together.
We see the Pulitzer prizes, we see the MacArthur Genius Grants, we see the Pritzker prize for architecture.
But for the one field that drives everything, education, there is no definitive prize. The Yass Prize has filled that vacuum -- it's more than just the money. It's about spurring ideas, it's about spurring innovation. We are very very proud to be a part of it.