I don’t think I’ve been in a room as supportive as the Yass Prize Semifinalist room in Miami.
Awardees
Awardees
Meet the 2026 Yass Prize Contenders!
Live from Forbes on Fifth in New York City, the Yass Prize contenders were revealed in a special livestream event. These contenders will now have the opportunity to pitch at the Yass Prize Miami Accelerator, making the case for why they should receive the $1 million Yass Prize.
What unites this cohort is a shared conviction that school needs to look different. Many are parent-driven – education entrepreneurs whose own children’s unique needs pushed them to build models that wouldn’t otherwise exist, opening new learning opportunities for their kids and countless others. Together, they are the “best of”: the single greatest example of the diversity of excellence and transformational innovation our country has to offer. Congratulations!
It might be the first time you’re speaking where everyone is actually listening and cares about what you’re doing.
Brian Curcio
Founder and CEO,
Rapunzl, 2022 Yass Prize Finalist
We have a tremendously transformative model that could stand for a little disruption.
The Yass experience has given us “permission” to do exactly that.
Kelby Woodard
President & CEO,
Cristo Rey Network
Everyone knows that without great education, our nation suffers.
Great education is a vital link for students to become successful citizens.
Janine Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize
Being a part of the [Yass] family confirmed that what I'm doing is right,
going against the common core and focusing on what we know is important for kids really works, and having a network of people now that also agree was super huge.
Kenisha Skaggs
Founder,
SOAR Academy
We used the Yass Prize to launch a program called Skypod catalyst, which is essentially an accelerator to help other people start microschools.
We believe very much that microschools should be bottoms up, they come from the community. They're founded by educators who know their community really well. And they want to design a learning environment for the kids in that community.
Amar Kumar
Founder and CEO,
KaiPod Learning, 2022 Yass Prize Seminfinalist
Our newest endeavor – that was part of our Yass Prize initiative – we're bringing career and technical education into the school
I'm in the process of going through the construction of a 20,000 square foot $11.5 million dollar building dedicated to career and technical education for the students in the Philadelphia region.
Brian Patrick King
President,
Father Judge High School, 2022 Yass Prize Semifinalist
Because of the Yass Prize, we were able to add an additional pre-K classroom.
Portia Green
Principal,
Prichard Prep, 2022 Yass Prize Semifinalist
The Yass Prize process has created an awareness of the education freedom movement within churches and communities.
It's given us an opportunity to start critical discussions with our congregations, parents, community leaders and members, about the laws that govern education in Pennsylvania.
Pastor Joshua Robertson
Founder & Executive Director,
Black Pastors United for Education
One of the missions of the Yass Prize and the Yass Prize movement is really surfacing best practices in innovation—
in innovators who are doing this type of transformational work, so that others can learn from it and replicate it, so that you can actually grow yourselves.
Jeff Imrich
Co-Founder,
Rock by Rock
The Yass Prize is centered around ensuring that this [program] provides you a stepping stone...
We don’t want you to rinse, wash, repeat. We want you to build and sustain.
Jeanne Allen
Founder & CEO, Center for Education Reform ,
Director, Yass Foundation for Education
The foundation of any society is a good education.
Jeff Yass
Founder,
The Yass Prize
Education is one of the most fundamental pillars for democratizing opportunities for success that we have in our society.
It’s thanks to organizations like the Yass Prize that our children are going to have a better tomorrow.
Francis X. Suarez
Mayor,
City of Miami
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