News
X's $1 million Article prize: rules, winners and what came next
In January 2026 X put up $1 million for a single long-form Article and said its creator payout pool had more than doubled. Here is how the contest worked, who won, and why it mattered for what followed.
On this page
The contest rules
Elon Musk announced "$1M prize for the top 𝕏 article" in mid-January 2026. X's official rules, as reported by Social Media Today, set out the details:
- Window: Articles published between January 16 and January 28, 2026, a single payout cycle.
- Who could enter: legal residents of the United States (including Washington, DC), 18 or older, subscribed to Premium or Premium+.
- What qualified: an original Article of at least 1,000 English words that hadn't been published elsewhere.
- Judging: engagement on the platform, originality and authenticity, grammar and spelling, and how well the entry followed the contest guidelines.
- Prize: one $1,000,000 grand prize, paid through a third-party processor after identity and tax checks.
The winners
X announced the results on February 4, 2026. The $1 million first prize went to the account @beaverd for an Article about government contracts with the consulting firm Deloitte. The Kobeissi Letter took $500,000 for second place and Dan Koe $250,000 for third. Four honorable mentions received $100,000 each: Nick Shirley, Josh Wolfe, Kaizen Asiedu and Ryan Hall. The choice of winner drew criticism in some coverage, including from NBC News, because of the account's earlier posts.
"The pool has doubled"
The prize came alongside a broader message from X that 2026 would pay creators more. When it revamped Creator Subscriptions in March, X said its creator revenue pool had more than doubled for 2026 thanks to growth in Premium subscriptions (as reported by TechCrunch). X never published a per-impression rate, so "doubled" described the total pool, not what any single creator would receive. That's one reason this site's calculator uses ranges instead of a single rate: see how much X pays per million impressions.
What happened next
The contest was a one-off, and it rewarded exactly what X would soon make a rule: original, substantial work rather than reposted clips. In April X cut payouts to aggregator accounts; in August it announced that Creator Revenue Sharing would be retired and replaced by Original Content Rewards, which pays only for original content. Long-form Articles you write yourself fit the new program well.
$1M Article prize winners announced
X names the winners of its one-off long-form Article contest: $1M first prize, $500K second, $250K third and four $100K honorable mentions.
$1M prize for the top Article
A one-cycle contest for US Premium subscribers: the best original Article of 1,000+ words wins $1 million.
For the full story of the switch, read X ends Revenue Sharing and launches Original Content Rewards.
Sources
Checked on September 28, 2026. X changes its programs often; the X Help Center is the final word.