Apply · 2026–27 cycle

Two in five who finished received an award.

That is the real number from last cycle. Most students who did not receive this scholarship were not turned down — they started an application and never sent it. If you take one thing from this page, take that.

Apply or nominate Do I qualify?
$1,000Standard award · $2,500 at Mountain Home in 2026
December 1Applications open
April 9Applications close
2026 cycle 2 of 5

completed applications received an award.

  • 72students started an application
  • 35completed one
  • 23became finalists
  • 14were named LEAD Scholars and shared $17,000

Look at the gap between the first two lines. Roughly half the students who began never sent it in — which means the committee never got to see thirty-seven people who might have won. Finishing is the hard part. The rest of this page exists to help you do that.

Do I qualify?

Six standards. Check them before you start, not at the end.

You must meet all six. The second and third are the ones people most often assume rather than check.

On track to graduate this academic yearFrom an accredited high school.
A minimum 3.5 GPAThis is a floor, not a guideline.
Two or more sports across your high school careerNot two at once, and not necessarily this year — two over the four years. We ask deliberately, because we would rather students did not specialize in a single sport.
Community service in your local communityVolunteering for projects where you live.
Planning to enroll full-time in the fallA bachelor’s program at an accredited institution, or a post-secondary vocational program. Both count equally.
Financial needTaken into consideration during review. A factor, not a gate.

Close on one of them? Ask us rather than ruling yourself out. Nobody at this Foundation would rather lose an application than answer a question. hello@taylorleadscholarship.com

The 2027 cycle

Four dates worth putting in a calendar.

Open for more than four months, which is deliberate. The application is managed through Submittable, you can save your progress and come back, and the students who finish are almost always the ones who started in December rather than April.

December 1

Applications and nominations open in Submittable. Create an account and start early — you can save and come back.

Over winter

Request your transcript and ask for a recommendation. These are the two things that depend on somebody else’s calendar, not yours.

April 9

Everything closes. Applications and nominations both. Nothing is accepted after this, including materials you asked someone else for.

Mid-May

Review, then every applicant is notified — selected or not. We do not leave people wondering.

Districts III, IV, V and VI are eligible this cycle. Districts I and II join in the 2027-28 school year. Mountain Home High School is eligible every year. Find your school’s district in the IHSAA directory →

Two ways in

Apply yourself, or have someone put you forward.

Both end in the same place and neither is weighted more heavily. If you are an adult reading this, the second one is the reason it exists.

If you are the student

Apply directly

You will need a Submittable account, the materials listed below, and about an hour spread across a couple of sittings. You can save and return, so start before you feel ready — a half-finished application you can see is far easier to finish than a blank one you are avoiding.

Start an application
If you are a coach, teacher, counselor or principal

Nominate a student

About ten minutes, and it is the single most useful thing an adult can do here. The students who most need this scholarship are consistently the least likely to put themselves forward — they assume it is meant for somebody else, and then nobody tells them otherwise.

You do not need the student’s permission to nominate them. We take it from there.

Nominate someone

What you actually need

Everything, up front, so nothing surprises you at 11pm.

Half the students who started last cycle did not finish. Some of that is life. Some of it is discovering on the final night that you needed something you had not asked anyone for yet.

  • Your transcript — request it from your counselor first, not last. This is the item most likely to hold you up.
  • A letter of recommendation — ask at least two weeks out. Coaches and teachers are busiest in exactly the months this is open.
  • Your athletic record — sports, which years, and any roles you held.
  • Your community service — what you did, roughly how long, and why you chose it.
  • A written response — in your own words. Short and true beats long and polished, every time.
  • Where you are headed — college, trade school, apprenticeship. All count equally.

If something on this list is the problem, tell us instead of giving up. Students have been named LEAD Scholars after writing to say they could not get a transcript in time, or that the teacher they wanted a letter from had left. We would far rather solve it than lose the application. hello@taylorleadscholarship.com

Before you close this tab

If you are on the fence, finish it anyway.

Two in five people who finished got one. Nobody who did not finish got anything. That is the entire calculation, and it is the only advice about this scholarship worth giving. You have until April 9.

Start your application About the scholarship See who has received it

The Alice & Charles Taylor Scholar-Athlete LEAD Scholarship · The Taylor LEAD Foundation · 501(c)(3) · EIN 99-2465893