{"id":9675,"date":"2026-04-22T18:56:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/danielsfund.org\/?post_type=news-publications&#038;p=9675"},"modified":"2026-04-22T19:12:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T19:12:33","slug":"national-ethics-case-competition-awards","status":"publish","type":"news-publications","link":"https:\/\/danielsfund.org\/news-publications\/national-ethics-case-competition-awards\/","title":{"rendered":"National Ethics Case Competition Awards $250,000 Prize Pool to 2026 Winners in Washington, D.C."},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p><strong>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE<br><\/strong>Media Contacts: Sean Duffy, 303.718.9049, <a href=\"mailto:SDuffy@DanielsFund.org\">SDuffy@DanielsFund.org<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<h4><strong>National Ethics Case Competition Awards $250,000 Prize Pool to 2026 Winners in Washington, D.C.<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>WASHINGTON, D.C., April 20, 2026<\/strong> \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/nationalethicscasecompetition.org\/\">The National Ethics Case Competition<\/a> (NECC) has announced the winners of its 2026 competition, awarding a total of <strong>$250,000 in prizes<\/strong> to top-performing teams, their advisors, and participating institutions.<\/p>\r\n<p>Held this week in Washington, D.C., the competition brought together top student teams from universities across the country to navigate complex business and ethical dilemmas.<\/p>\r\n<p>After advancing through multiple rounds of competition, five finalist teams competed in the championship round at The Mayflower Hotel, with solutions evaluated by a panel of leaders in business, ethics, and public policy.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n<li><strong>First Place<\/strong> was awarded to <strong>Cornell University<\/strong>.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Second Place<\/strong> was awarded to<strong> New Mexico State University<\/strong>.<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Third Place<\/strong> was awarded to the <strong>University of Denver<\/strong>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<p>The competition challenges students to analyze real-world scenarios at the intersection of the free market and ethical decision-making, applying the Bill Daniels Ethics Principles under time-constrained conditions.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cThese students demonstrated exactly what Bill Daniels, one of America\u2019s legendary entrepreneurs, believed \u2013 that the most successful leaders are those who understand that ethical conduct and business success go hand in hand,\u201d said Hanna Skandera, President and CEO of the Daniels Fund. \u201cTheir commitment to ethical decision-making was impressive and proved that a deep understanding of business ethics is a winning free-market strategy.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>Hosted by Texas A&amp;M University in founding partnership with the Daniels Fund, NECC continues to grow as a national platform for developing principled leaders.<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cWhat makes NECC unique is the environment it creates,\u201d said Kim Field, Associate Vice President for Citizenship and Service at Texas A&amp;M University.\u00a0 \u201cStudents are asked to think deeply, defend their decisions, and engage with competing perspectives in real time. That experience stays with them long after the competition ends.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>The 2026 competition brought together 18 semifinalist teams, culminating in a final round of five teams where students presented their recommendations and responded to judge questioning before a live audience.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<p>Winners were announced during the awards ceremony, where top teams were recognized not only for their performance but for their ability to apply ethical reasoning in high-pressure, real-world scenarios.<\/p>\r\n<p>As interest continues to grow nationwide, NECC is expanding its reach, with plans to increase participation and deepen its impact on students preparing to lead in business, government, and beyond.<\/p>\r\n<p><strong>About the National Ethics Case Competition (NECC)<\/strong><\/p>\r\n<p>The National Ethics Case Competition is a premier collegiate competition that challenges students to analyze complex business and ethical dilemmas and present solutions to experienced judges. Hosted by Texas A&amp;M University in founding partnership with the Daniels Fund, NECC equips the next generation of leaders with the tools to navigate ethical challenges in a free-market economy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p><strong>ABOUT THE DANIELS FUND<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>The Daniels Fund was established in 2000 with a $1 billion bequest from cable television pioneer Bill Daniels. A private charitable foundation dedicated to positively impacting American life, the Fund has given $1.5 billion over its history to improve the lives of men, women and children in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Visit\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.danielsfund.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DanielsFund.org<\/a>\u00a0to learn more.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","update-type":[25],"topic":[28,12],"class_list":["post-9675","news-publications","type-news-publications","status-publish","hentry","update-type-news-release","topic-ethics","topic-updates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>National Ethics Case Competition Awards $250,000 Prize Pool to 2026 Winners in Washington, D.C. - Daniels Fund<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/danielsfund.org\/news-publications\/national-ethics-case-competition-awards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"National Ethics Case Competition Awards $250,000 Prize Pool to 2026 Winners in Washington, D.C. - Daniels Fund\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMedia Contacts: Sean Duffy, 303.718.9049, SDuffy@DanielsFund.org\u00a0 National Ethics Case Competition Awards $250,000 Prize Pool to 2026 Winners in Washington, D.C. WASHINGTON, D.C., April 20, 2026 \u2014 The National Ethics Case Competition (NECC) has announced the winners of its 2026 competition, awarding a total of $250,000 in prizes to top-performing teams, their advisors, and [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/danielsfund.org\/news-publications\/national-ethics-case-competition-awards\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Daniels Fund\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/danielsfund\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-22T19:12:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Daniels_Fund\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/news-publications\\\/national-ethics-case-competition-awards\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/news-publications\\\/national-ethics-case-competition-awards\\\/\",\"name\":\"National Ethics Case Competition Awards $250,000 Prize Pool to 2026 Winners in Washington, D.C. - Daniels Fund\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-22T18:56:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-22T19:12:33+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/news-publications\\\/national-ethics-case-competition-awards\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/news-publications\\\/national-ethics-case-competition-awards\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/news-publications\\\/national-ethics-case-competition-awards\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News & Publications\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/news-publications\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"National Ethics Case Competition Awards $250,000 Prize Pool to 2026 Winners in Washington, D.C.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/\",\"name\":\"Daniels Fund\",\"description\":\"Positively Influencing American Life\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Daniels Fund\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/DF-Logo.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/07\\\/DF-Logo.svg\",\"width\":309,\"height\":57,\"caption\":\"Daniels Fund\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/danielsfund.org\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/danielsfund\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/Daniels_Fund\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/danielsfund\\\/?hl=en\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/danielsfund\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"National Ethics Case Competition Awards $250,000 Prize Pool to 2026 Winners in Washington, D.C. - Daniels Fund","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/danielsfund.org\/news-publications\/national-ethics-case-competition-awards\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"National Ethics Case Competition Awards $250,000 Prize Pool to 2026 Winners in Washington, D.C. - Daniels Fund","og_description":"FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMedia Contacts: Sean Duffy, 303.718.9049, SDuffy@DanielsFund.org\u00a0 National Ethics Case Competition Awards $250,000 Prize Pool to 2026 Winners in Washington, D.C. 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