2009 Templeton Freedom Award Winners

–The largest international prize program that celebrates think tank contributions to the understanding of freedom

On November 9, 2009 Atlas Economic Research Foundation announced the winners of the 2009 Templeton Freedom Awards for Excellence in Promoting Liberty, the largest international awards program for think tanks.

The sixteen organizations recognized within the 2009 program represent four continents and twelve countries – Brazil, Chile, Egypt, India, Paraguay, Peru, Poland, the Republic of Georgia, Slovakia, South Africa, Sweden, and the United States. Winners were selected from more than 130 applications from 47 countries, by an independent panel of judges. The 2009 awards grant a $10,000 prize to each winner, and two prizes are given in eight categories.

Free Market Solutions to Poverty

The New Economic School in the Republic of Georgia is the winner of the prize for their efforts to lift the country from poverty by using political advocacy, consultancy and educational meetings with politicians to shape the debate to focus on pro-growth policies.

The Free Market Foundation of South Africa is recognized for their book “Jobs for the Jobless” denouncing the high legal restrictions on job security that has led to massive unemployment.

Social Entrepreneurship

Samasource, a non-profit based in San Francisco is recognized for its work training small businesses in poor parts of Africa, and linking them to profitable opportunities working for U.S. clients.

Fundación Paraguaya (Paraguay) is the winner of the Social Entrepreneurship prize for its San Francisco Agricultural School, a financially self-sufficient school for transforming poor youth into successful entrepreneurs.

Ethics & Values

The Conservative Institute (Slovakia) is awarded the prize for bringing diverse and qualified thinkers to Slovakia to participate in lectures on economics and ethics since 2005.

The Globalization Institute in Poland sparked a national debate questioning the science of global warming by publishing “The Mythology of the Greenhouse Effect,” right before the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Poznań.

Student Outreach

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education is recognized for its Campus Freedom Network, a grassroots effort to educate students and make them active partners in restoring liberty to campus life and to create a nationwide network of student advocates.

Institute Invertir (Peru) is recognized in the Student Outreach category for its program bringing over 200 top-performing university students from all the regions of Peru to learn how to set up a business and run it efficiently.

Initiative in Public Relations

The Centre for Civil Society in India is recognized for its School Choice Campaign (SCC), operating in seven states to promote an education system in India where all children get quality education of their choice.

The Institute for Information on the Crimes of Communism of Sweden is awarded the Initiative in Public Relations prize for its approach in communicating the essential facts about communism and the consequences of communist ideology and rule.

Innovative Media Award

The Sam Adams Alliance (United States) is recognized for its initiative, Sunshine Review (SunshineReview.org), a website devoted to issues of government transparency and accountability.

The Free to Choose Network (United States) is a winner of the Innovative Media Award for its website, Izzit.org, which produces its own videos, re-purposes other videos, and offers them to teachers across the country.

Award for Special Achievement by a University-based Center

The Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship at Rockford College in Illinois is awarded the University-based prize for launching six courses focusing on the ethical infrastructure of entrepreneurship and the preconditions of the free society in ethics.

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Universidad del Desarrollo in Chile is recognized for conducting and disseminating high quality research on entrepreneurship and improving curricula and teaching methods.

Award for Special Achievement by a Young Institute

Instituto Millenium of Brazil is awarded the Young Institute award for its impressive early record of achievement, attracting more than 1000 students to two forums at universities, placing more than 100 articles in newspapers and magazines and over 30 videos online, publishing two books, and developing a weekly newsletter with more than 5000 subscribers.

Also recognized in this category, the Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth started one of the first essay contests in the Arabic world in cooperation with the Friedrich Nauman Foundation asking students to answer the question: “Why am I a liberal?” The initiative was featured by 6 major newspapers, a youth radio station, and two major Egyptian political parties.

Atlas will host a conference, featuring the Templeton Freedom Award winners on November 9, 2009 at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in Washington D.C. The conference is tied to Atlas’s Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner, a gala celebration of the 20th Anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Winners of Templeton Freedom Awards will give presentations relating to “The Moral Imperative of Economic Freedom, and Innovations in Promoting Liberty.”

For nearly three decades, the Atlas Economic Research Foundation has been supporting independent think tanks that promote free markets, individual liberty, and rule of law. Atlas currently works with more than 250 think tanks in 90 countries. More than half of these organizations were assisted in their formative years by Atlas through financial support or advisory services.

The Templeton Freedom Awards program has distributed more than $1.25 million in prizes and grants and is made possible with funding from the John Templeton Foundation.

TFA video clips on the 2009 winners:
New Economic School (Georgia) & Free Market Foundation (South Africa)
Samasource (USA) & Fundacion Paraguaya (Paraguay)
Conservative Institute (Slovakia) & Globalization Institute (Poland)
Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (USA) & Invertir Institute (Peru)
Centre for Civil Society (India) & Institute for the Information on the Crimes of Communism (Sweden)
Sam Adams Alliance (USA) & Free to Choose Network (USA)
Center for Ethics and Entrepreneurship (USA) & Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (Chile)
Instituto Millenium (Brazil) & Egyptian Union of Liberal Youth (Egypt)

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010 at 7:26 AM. It is filed under Awards, Our Work, Programs, Templeton Freedom Award. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.