Legal Question in Education Law in Pennsylvania

Re: Illegal scholarship?

Generally there may be a claim for a breach of contract, although state law controls and I am not a PA lawyer. You should probably contact a lawyer in PA to ask the specific questions about this specific contest.

You should also check out the rules of the contest. Sometimes the contests have "weasel words" in the rules that say "the organization reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to cancel the contest at any time for any reason and the contestants sole right under these rules is to a return of the entry." If the rules say that, then that is the right you have, not a right to a breach of contract action.

Another issue is whether you paid an entry fee. If you paid an entry fee and they cancelled, you may have a claim of fraud or violation of your state's "Little FTC Act."

You may want to consult a lawyer and raise these issues. It may be that a class action could be maintained against the company.