Contest to bring Taylor Swift, $10K music grant to winning schools

Chegg for Good and Papa John’s Pizza have organized a nationwide competition for high school and college students to win a Taylor Swift concert and grant for their school.

Swift will perform an acoustic concert for the winning school as part of the “VH1 Storytellers” series to be aired Nov. 11. The winning school and four runners up will each receive a $10 thousand grant for their music departments.

Voting began Aug. 21 and will remain open until 8:59 p.m. Sept. 23. The number of votes is divided by school enrollment to make the contest fair for smaller schools.
Students can vote at taylorswiftoncampus.com. Voters must first like Swift’s Facebook page and can then type in their school’s name to vote.

Bonus votes are given to students who “like” contest partners, including Papa John’s, Chegg and CoverGirl, on Facebook. Five bonus votes will be awarded to students who download Swift’s newest single, “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,” through the contest.

Melissa Korzec, senior developments officer for the Jacobs School of Music, said winning the grant would expand program and philanthropy possibilities for the school.

“Grants make possible opportunities that wouldn’t otherwise exist in our regular programming,” Korzec said. “When we apply for a grant, we look to see what we can offer in our programs that would be beneficial to the students and the
community.”

Nearly 10,000 schools have already entered the contest as of Monday, according to Swift’s Facebook page.

While the number of votes per school is not publicly available, students can see how many votes their school has by voting.

IU-Bloomington had 1,453 votes as of press time.

“Taylor Swift is not only a talented musician, but is also an amazing role model for our nation’s students,” Dan Rosensweig, president and CEO of Chegg, said in a press release. “Chegg’s mission is to deliver value to students, so we’re thrilled to partner with Taylor to bring a unique and intimate concert to her fans at one lucky school as well as provide music grants to five deserving schools through our Chegg for Good program.”