Intel Science Talent Search, US’s oldest and most prestigious science competition for high school seniors, is in search for a new sponsor. The research-based science competition revealed that its current sponsor has decided not to provide funding to it in 2017.

An official announcement of this major changeover was emailed in early morning hours on Wednesday to thousands of high school students and others across the nation. The news left several thousands in shock.

The Society for Science & the Public, the Washington, D.C., a nonprofit that has been in charge of the competition since past 75 years, confirmed on Wednesday that its main sponsor i.e. Intel Corp. has decided to drop its sponsorship after the 2017 competition.

This major decision of Intel was first reported by The New York Times. Although Intel will no more sponsor the talent search competition, the talent search will go on with a new sponsor and bigger prizes after Intel's involvement ends in two years, according to a request for proposals the science society provided on Wednesday.

The new sponsor will be only the third in the competition's 75-year history; Intel took over in 1998 from Westinghouse Electric, which supported it for its first half-century.

During this year’s competition Intel awarded more than $1.6 million in prize to scores of high school science and math stars, including three $150,000 first prizes.

Now the organizers hope that the new sponsor will be expected to provide at least $1.7 million in prize money as part of a minimum $6 million-a-year commitment.