WASHINGTON—The Heritage Foundation today announced its latest round of Innovation Prize winners in various categories. These recipients include the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), American Accountability Foundation, Carolinas Academic Leadership Network (CALN), Center for Christian Virtue (CCV), The Claremont Institute, The College Fix, Feds for Freedom, Immigration Accountability Project, and the Institute for Family Studies & Ethics and Public Policy Center.
The Innovation Prize winners will be honored on Monday following the grand opening of the new Barb Van Andel-Gaby Center at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. This year’s recipients reflect a breadth of organizations within the conservative movement who have significantly contributed to Heritage’s core policy priorities. Submissions surpassed those in previous years, with more than 80 submissions.
Heritage’s Innovation Prize recognizes and provides substantive financial awards totaling up to $1 million annually to results-oriented nonprofits for projects involving research, litigation, education, outreach, or communications. Heritage is dedicated to addressing seven priority issues: empowering parents in education, holding Big Tech accountable, countering the threat of the Chinese Communist Party, securing America’s borders and reducing crime, ensuring free and fair elections, reducing the growth of spending and inflation, and promoting life and family formation.
Heritage Foundation President Dr. Kevin Roberts released the following statement about the new awards:
“Our nation faces uncertain times, and many are eager to know if patriots in our movement are dedicated to fighting for our great nation. The answer to that is a resounding yes. Heritage’s Innovation Prize serves as a testament to the relentless efforts and effectiveness of vital organizations within the conservative movement. We are delighted to acknowledge these incredible organizations: American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG), American Accountability Foundation, Carolinas Academic Leadership Network (CALN), Center for Christian Virtue (CCV), The Claremont Institute, The College Fix, Immigration Accountability Project, Institute for Family Studies & Ethics and Public Policy Center, and Feds for Freedom.
“This prestigious award would not be possible without the generous support of The Heritage Foundation’s members. We stand committed to uplifting those who are leaving an indelible mark on our society, championing conservative principles, and shaping the future of America.”
The American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) will receive a $100,000 award in support of the organization’s Abortion Pill Reversal Education and Recruitment Project and its efforts to utilize Continuing Medical Education (CME) alongside an extensive media campaign, to reach physicians, patients, insurance providers, and everyday Americans nationwide with the truth about abortion pill reversals ultimately saving 4,500 to date.
For more on AAPLOG’s award, click here.
The American Accountability Foundation will receive a $100,000 award in support of their investigative researchers, in-depth reports, and educational efforts to alert Congress, the new administration, and the American people to the presence of anti-American bad actors burrowed into the administrative state and ensure appropriate action is taken.
For more on American Accountability Foundation’s award, click here.
The Carolinas Academic Leadership Network (CALN) will receive a $100,000 award in support of its effort to coach school board members on how to resist the left’s attempt to use anti-racism, DEI, and transgender sports to distract from the fact that a generation of leftist dominance in traditional K-12 has failed to educate our children, and how to pivot successfully to focus on achieving academic excellence.
For more on the CALN’s award, click here.
The Center for Christian Virtue will receive a $100,000 award to support its plans to launch dozens of Ohio Christian Education Network (OCEN) schools across Ohio and export this model to every state to build a new infrastructure that leverages existing resources to serve and save children. Their work is based on three pillars: First, public policy which advocates for law that promotes our fundamental freedoms. Two, engagement which aims to network, equip, and empower businesses, churches, and families to have an active voice in government. Lastly, education which aims to prepare citizens and the next generation to understand the political and cultural issues facing us today.
For more on the Center for Christian Virtue’s award, click here.
The Claremont Institute will receive a $100,000 award to support the launch of the American Heartland Fellowship, which will teach the principles of the American Founding and their application to promising leaders and thinkers positioned to use that knowledge in practical and influential ways. This Fellowship will educate and connect a cadre of entrepreneurial leaders in key industries and states to ensure that Americans have alternate structures of capital, media, communications, and other critical infrastructure so they are not held captive by progressive institutional power.
For more on the Claremont Institute’s award, click here.
The College Fix will receive a $100,000 award to support its plans to address the problem of one-sided narratives on in the legacy media by launching the Restore the Media video series. This series will gather prominent figures in journalism to create compelling, accessible, informative videos that will explain the importance of journalism, inspire young writers to consider this noble vocation, and encourage concerned citizens to demand more of the American media.
For more on The College Fix’s award, click here.
Feds for Freedom will receive a $100,000 award in support of its effort to dismantle the pronoun brigade in our federal agencies by conducting pre-enforcement challenges in federal court against these policies based on First Amendment protections of freedom of speech and religious liberty. They have more than 30 plaintiffs from across the federal workforce who are prepared to risk their careers to stand up for liberty, transparency, and constitutional rights.
For more on the Feds for Freedom's award, click here.
The Immigration Accountability Project (IAP) will receive a $100,000 award to support its aims to keep the immigration issue and the ongoing border crisis on voters' minds through the end of 2024. IAP will create engaging content and use geo-targeted social media ads to educate voters on what their Members of Congress are—or are not—doing to change and improve immigration policy and how those actions impact public safety, education, healthcare, and competition for other public resources.
For more on the IAP's award, click here.
And the Institute for Family Studies & Ethics and Public Policy Center will receive a $100,000 award to support its collaboration with state policymakers to create more online age-verification and parental consent laws for social media; to create more online age-verification laws for pornography sites; and to develop and advance model policies for policymakers to make smartphones and app stores safer for children. They will also develop model policies that both schools and policymakers can enact to prohibit the presence of smartphones and social media in schools and coordinate efforts to win the legal battles in court against Big Tech.
For more on the Institute for Family Studies & Ethics and Public Policy Center, click here.
This is the fourth round of Heritage Innovation Prizes to be awarded. In 2023, winners of the Prize included Communio, the National Association of Scholars, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Speech First, and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. These awards are sponsored by The Heritage Foundation’s robust endowment for innovative conservative projects.
For more information on the most recent Innovation Prize awards, read here, or for information on the inaugural awards, read here. For more information about the prize itself, read here.
