The Washington Free Beacon received the 21st annual Salvatori Prize for American Citizenship this afternoon in an awards ceremony at the Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colorado. 

The Heritage Foundation awards the $25,000 prize each year to an individual or organization that “upholds and advances the principles of the American Founding, embodies the virtues of character and mind that animated the Founders and exemplifies the spirit of independent and entrepreneurial citizenship in the United States.”

David Azerrad, director of Heritage’s B. Kenneth Simon Center for Principles and Politics, presented the award to Matthew Continetti, the Free Beacon’s editor in chief.

“The Washington Free Beacon exemplifies why we have and need a free press in a republic,” Azerrad said. “Through excellent investigative reporting, the WFB has methodically exposed corruption among the ruling class and documented the collusion among the elites, the Administrative State, the press and activist groups.”

“They cover important stories that the press is not covering,” he added.

Launched only five years ago, the Washington Free Beacon quickly established a reputation for breaking news stories that Washington’s power players would prefer to leave uncovered. Their investigative work in 2016 revealed Hillary Clinton’s anti-Second Amendment stance staked out at a private fundraiser, deceptive editing in a Katie Couric “documentary” on Second Amendment rights, and ABC News George Stephanopoulos’s failure to disclose his $75,000 contribution to the Clinton Foundation.

The prize is named for entrepreneur and philanthropist Henry Salvatori. The award ceremony came during the 40th annual Resource Bank meeting, a gathering of more than 400 conservative academics, policy analysts and policymakers from around the world.