The National Merit Scholarship Corporation announced on Wednesday, Sept. 10, its 2026 list of semifinalist high school students who will now compete for a share of about 6,930 scholarships worth almost $26 million. Winners will be announced nationally between April and July next year. This is the 71st annual competition.

High school juniors — 11th graders — entered the 2026 academic competition by taking the 2024 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. More than 1.3 million juniors, in about 20,000 high schools, entered the competition by taking the qualifying test.

The highest-scoring students in each state represent the pool of semifinalists who, according to the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, represent less than 1% of United States high school seniors.

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