WASHINGTON—The Heritage Foundation has launched the Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prize, a new initiative that will support those in higher education who advance research aligned with Heritage’s values and mission.

The new prize, which is currently accepting applicants through March 1, will award prizes between $5,000 and $25,000 to full-time and adjunct faculty members at U.S. colleges, universities, or seminaries who are actively engaged in research and teaching that advances Heritage’s current priority issues as well as broader issues related to freedom and opportunity. Prize winners will also be invited to participate in a Summer Colloquium and Workshop.

Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, made the following statement about the new initiative:

“As a lifelong educator, I can attest that today’s academic environment is toxic for faculty members who want to research, publish, teach, and develop programs which explore economic freedom, human flourishing, the dignity of the person, constitutional government, and other issues related to freedom and opportunity.

“Heritage recognizes that we need original research and critical thinking on these issues that current academia won’t support or fund. That’s why we’re investing in these academic professionals—so that we’re building up non-woke scholars who believe in a free and prosperous America.

Prof. Robert George, McCormick professor of jurisprudence at Princeton University and Heritage Foundation board member, added:

“It is scarcely a secret that academia too often honors and encourages conformism and groupthink. What splendid news it is, therefore, that the Heritage Foundation has established an awards program to recognize and celebrate outstanding scholarship that challenges the paradigms, ideologies, and modes of thinking that have gained ascendancy in most colleges and universities.”

Liz Palla, a partner at American Philanthropic who provided consulting help for the new initiative, added:

“It’s no secret that conservative professors are personae non grata on many college campuses. The Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prize program will provide vital funding to scholars whose perspectives and research are at odds with the prevailing campus orthodoxy. The program has the potential not only to help the winning scholars succeed personally and professionally but also to impact their students and peers, who benefit from the learning that comes from lively and balanced discourse on their campuses.”

Applicants for the academic prize must be submitted online by March 1, 2023. Prize winners will be announced in May 2023. See more details here.