It began In August of 2021, when the STOP Award – standing for Sustainable, Transformational Outstanding and Permissionless education was established to honor and advance the work of education providers who delivered a best-in-class experience during the Covid pandemic, initially by offering a $1 million prize. But the launch of the award uncovered hundreds of inspirational and innovative education entrepreneurs, and twenty were chosen to go through a robust evaluation, business accelerator and pitch process. In their generosity, Janine and Jeff Yass decided that all were deserving of a $100,000 semi-finalist STOP Award, and the Discovery Center of Springfield, put its $1 million grand prize to work expanding its new full-time education program to more students. After seeing the progress, we knew we couldn’t just “stop” there.

Today it’s known as the Yass Prize for Sustainable, Transformational, Outstanding and Permissionless education, and it 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 competition is now underway!