PhotoAlto/Eric Audras/Getty Images
Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prizes
Supporting the next generation of scholars dedicated to
freedom and opportunity and encouraging a more diverse intellectual environment on campus.
About
The Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prizes support and encourage the research, publications, and programs of faculty who are aligned with The Heritage Foundation’s mission at colleges, universities, and seminaries throughout the United States. The Prizes recognize and provide financial awards to faculty at higher education institutions for their original research as well as for their projects and programs that explore Heritage’s priority issues and broader issues around freedom and opportunity.
For the 2026 prize round, The Heritage Foundation is celebrating scholars whose work relates to the American Founding as part of the nation's 250th anniversary celebration.
Prize winners receive financial awards of $15,000 in recognition of their past accomplishments, their current work, and their future promise in the academy. Prize recipients of the Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prizes participate in a Summer Colloquium and Workshop in Washington, D.C. with leading academics, scholars from Heritage, and their fellow prize winners.
See the press release announcing the launch of the third round of the Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prizes here.
Why the Academic Prizes?
The academic environment is particularly challenging for faculty who wish to research, publish, teach, and develop programs in areas that explore economic freedom, the dignity of the person, human flourishing, constitutional governance, national sovereignty, and other issues related to freedom, opportunity, and traditional American values. Moreover, funding opportunities for such academic pursuits are increasingly scarce.
Recognizing the importance of critical thinking and thoughtful research on these issues and the impact such work has on its own policy initiatives and the broader public debate, The Heritage Foundation is committed to investing in the academic community.
Through the Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prizes, The Heritage Foundation encourages the robust exploration and development of ideas that sharpen our own scholars’ thinking, support the work of courageous faculty on often-hostile college campuses, grow the network of researchers and intellectuals, form new partnerships, and advance Heritage’s vision of building an America where freedom, opportunity, prosperity, and civil society flourish.
Read the press release here.
Guidelines and Process
GUIDELINES
Applicants must be full-time or adjunct faculty at colleges, universities, or seminaries in the United States who are actively engaged in research, writing, programming, or course development that relate to:
1. The Heritage Foundation’s following priority issue areas:
- Counter the Chinese Communist party
- Eliminate regulation, inflation, and spending
- End the border and immigration chaos
- Ensure election integrity
- Expand education freedom
- Restore digital sovereignty
- Put family first
- Root out the Deep State
- Unleash American energy
- Restore American wellness
2. Broader questions around economic freedom, the dignity of the person, human flourishing, constitutional governance, and national sovereignty; or
3. Other issues that explore the notions of freedom, opportunity, and traditional American values.
Additional Considerations
- Priority will be given to applicants whose scholarship has relevance to current policy debates and those who do not have other external funding sources for the upcoming academic year.
- Applicants who are actively engaged in extracurricular activities that build community among academics are eligible for an additional award of $5,000.
Prize awards are $15,000 and funding will be directed to individual faculty members rather than their home institutions. Winners are also invited to participate in a Summer Colloquium and Workshop in Washington, D.C. with fellow Prize Winners.
Read about our 2024 Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prize Winners here and our 2023 Prize Winners here.
2024 Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prize Winners:
- J. Joel Alicea, J.D., Associate Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Project on Constitutional Originalism and the Catholic Intellectual Tradition at the Catholic University of America
- Dr. Paul Dragos Aligica, Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the F. A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics in the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and KPMG Professor of Governance at the University of Bucharest
- Dr. Francis Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy & Church-State Studies, Affiliate Professor of Political Science, and Associate Director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy at Baylor University
- Dr. Kevin Burns, Associate Professor of Political Science at Christendom College (now Associate Professor of Political Science at Benedictine University)
- Dr. Gregory Collins, Lecturer in the Department of Political Science and Program on Ethics, Politics, and Economics at Yale University
- Dr. Justin Dyer, Professor in the Department of Government and Dean of the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin
- Dr. William Inboden, Professor and Director of the Alexander Hamilton Center for Classical and Civic Education at the University of Florida, and Peterson Senior Fellow with the Kissinger Center for Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies
- Dr. Melissa Moschella, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Catholic University of America (now Professor of the Practice of Philosophy at the McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame University)
- Dr. Michael Munger, Professor of Political Science in the Sanford School of Public Policy and Director of the PPE Certificate Program at Duke University
- Dr. Pavlos Papadopoulos, Assistant Professor of Humanities at Wyoming Catholic College
- Dr. Mark Regnerus, Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin
- Dr. Alexander Salter, Georgie G. Snyder Associate Professor of Economics in the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University
- Dr. Luke Sheahan, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Duquesne University and Senior Affiliate at the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania
- Todd Zywicki, J.D., George Mason University Foundation Professor of Law at George Mason University Antonin Scalia School of Law and Research Fellow of the Law & Economics Center
APPLICATION AND REVIEW PROCESS
Applications for the Academic Prizes are now closed. Applications for the 2026 prize round will open at the end of the year.
We encourage you to reach out to see if you would be a fit for the Academic Prizes. Inquiries may be submitted via the form below.
As part of the application, applicants will be asked to provide, among other things, the following:
- A current curriculum vitae (10 pages or less)
- A brief description of your past and current scholarship and its potential policy applications, including a brief description of any extracurricular activities
- A writing sample relevant to your application (please limit to 25 pages or less)
- A list of two or more references who can speak to the quality of your scholarship and future potential
Additional information may be requested if needed for further evaluation, and interviews may be conducted as part of the application review and evaluation process.
After submission, applications will be reviewed by Heritage staff and advisors, and top applications will be shared with an Academic Advisory Committee that includes scholars from across the country.
Inquiries may be submitted via the interest form below.
