Fall Membership Challenge
..The Fall Membership Challenge is a recruitment contest between student chapters occurring September 21, 2026 through October 21, 2026. This contest is intended to challenge students to recruit new Material Advantage Student Members. Contest winners receive monetary prizes for the most creative strategies and the highest percentage increase in chapter membership.
How To Participate
There are two categories in which your chapter can participate:
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I. Most Creative Recruitment Strategies ~ $500 Prize
To be eligible for this award, participating Chapters must compile a report of the month’s recruitment activities/programs and submit via the online Membership Challenge Application (link below) by the deadline. The essay must describe the recruitment strategies used as well as include photographs that show the chapter spirit, activities, and/or new members. Chapters will also be able to separately upload (within the online Membership Challenge Application) up to three high resolution photos and up to two videos to further support their submission if desired.
The report must be in essay format (written in English, double-spaced, using font size 11 in either Ariel or Times New Roman) that is a minimum of one page (inclusive of photographs, charts, etc.) but no more than seven pages (inclusive of photographs, charts, etc.). If any report is submitted with more than seven pages, the excess pages will not be considered.
The chapter that implements the most creative program to recruit new members while achieving a minimum 5% increase in membership will win this category.
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II. Most Students Recruited ~ $1,000 Prize
To be eligible for this award, participating Chapters must recruit new members who have joined the Material Advantage Program via the online join portal during the official dates of the Fall Membership Challenge. To receive proper credit for new memberships, the Chapter must download and fill out the Membership Challenge Member Sheet, and then upload it to the online Membership Challenge Application (link below) by the deadline.
The chapter with the highest percentage of membership increase during the Membership Challenge will win this category. In the event of a tie, the prize money will be split evenly among the winners.
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General Rules & Procedures
- For both award categories, only new members will count towards chapter growth. All new members must join online via the Material Advantage join portal.
- Participating chapters must have a minimum of five active (paid) members at the start of the contest. If a chapter has fewer than five members, only the increase beyond five will be counted towards the chapter growth percentage.
- Starting chapter membership size will be determined based on existing Material Advantage Membership as of September 20, 2026. Only members with a Material Advantage join date between September 21, 2026 and October 21, 2026 will be counted.
- You may enter both categories; however, the same chapter cannot win both categories.
- Photographs/videos submitted may be published in Material Advantage Partner publications, their websites, or online social media accounts (at the discretion of each Society).
- For more information about the Membership Challenge, contact ASM.
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Submission Deadline
The Material Advantage Membership Challenge ends on October 21, 2026. Participating chapters must fill out and submit the online Membership Challenge Application no later than 11:59 PM US Eastern on October 24, 2026. Winners are generally determined within 10 business days after the application deadline.
Fill out the online Membership Challenge Application!
