This is so huge for us! A few months ago, we announced the creation of our Not Accepting the Status Quo — Women Disruptor Scholarship, inviting students attending 4-year accredited US colleges to enter a $2,500 contest (each) for best essay or YouTube video furthering the vital case for women’s empowerment in a society where many perceive that men still rule the world.
We were true to our word and now we’re absolutely thrilled to announce our very first winners. Drum roll, please!
The Spring 2026 Winners!
Bhada Han from Ohio State University composed the winning essay, about her steady leadership of propeller campus movements: Enlighten (anti-human trafficking), OFW (One Fair Wage), and SB 1 (Advance Ohio Higher Education Act, pushing back on censorship of the right to speak out against climate change and for reproductive choice).
The winning YouTube video was submitted by Shelby Suppiger from The University of California, Berkeley. It’s a raw, gutsy confession piece about overcoming the fear to speak up and use one’s voice as a giant baby step (yep, oxymoron) towards owning total goddess energy to influence a societal reckoning in favor of women’s equal sovereignty.
How Did We Decide the Winners?
We thoroughly reviewed each entry and made sure to give each entrant our full attention. To say we were blown away by the submissions for our inaugural scholarship would be an understatement; now we can scarcely wait to see what happens in the future with these young people – as well as what future entrants have to say.
We’re Not Done Yet.
If we hedged any bets at the outset about the impact of our scholarship on behalf of women – not anymore! We’re excited to watch the continuing expansion of ACFW’s mission through this effort as it directly empowers women’s voices to help shift ancient power imbalances that still exist in the world today. And we can’t wait to support more young women as they continue their education.
Applications will soon open up for the Fall 2026 scholarship, so stay tuned!
Our Long Game Is Your Long Game.
Our reason for being – and the reason we launched the Not Accepting the Status Quo — Women Disruptor Scholarship is to remind you how epic your voice is; how, when you speak, your words have magnificent impact, alone or in a contagious collective.
We want to continue building that voice, and that community so that they echo across the generations. That’s why we’re investing in fresh new voices as they move out into the world. The last thing we want is for those voices to be lost over the years because we still have so much that we need to do in the fight to move women’s rights forward.
Congratulations to everyone who entered the first competition, and special kudos to our first winners, Bhada Han and Shelby Suppiger!
You’re not as alone as you think you are. Women need women.
