Lift head up, getting first prize (7)
I believe the answer is:
jackpot
'first prize' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'lift head up' is the wordplay.
'lift' becomes 'jack' (jacking is a kind of lifting).
'head up' becomes 'pot' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'jack'+'pot'='JACKPOT'
'getting' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for jackpot that I've seen before include "Big win from one-arm bandit" , "best prize!" , "Kitty -- top prize" , "pool" , "Accumulated prize" .)