What's the Putnam if I may ask? It sounds like an academic competition? Google didn't really enlighten me.

I know what it's like though, I won a big prize in school. Not saying it compares to yours but I stood out too. Didn't really help me become more popular though or boost my self confidence. But it was nice to give a middle finger to all the bullies for once.

Ah ok a maths prize, cool! My prize was more general science. I'm very good at sciences but I have a mental blind spot for maths, I can understand really complex abstract problems but only if I can imagine them, explaining them with math makes it more confusing. It's weird :) In fact I was super surprised I won it because I screwed up the math part as expected.

Nice about the scholarship! I didn't get one but we don't really need them in the Netherlands. All universities cost a minimal standard fee only.