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.  

2025 Freedom and Opportunity Academic Prize Winners:

• Erika Bachiochi, J.D., Professor of Practice and Director of the Mercy Otis Warren Initiative in the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University 
• Stephanie Barclay, J.D., Professor of Law at Georgetown Law School, Faculty Co-Director at the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, and Faculty Affiliate at the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School 
• David Bernstein, J.D., Distinguished University Professor at the Antonin Scalia Law School, Director of the Liberty and Law Center at George Mason University, and Associate Fellow in the Faculty of Law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem 
• Josh Blackman, J.D., Centennial Chair of Constitutional Law at the South Texas College of Law Houston and Nonresident Scholar at the Georgetown University Center for the Constitution 
• Dr. Joshua Dunn, Executive Director of the Institute of American Civics at the University of Tennessee and Visiting Graduate Faculty of Master of Arts in History and American Government at Ashland University 
• Dr. Jesús Fernández-Villaverde, Howard Marks Presidential Professor of Economics at the University of Pennsylvania and Director of the Penn State Initiative for the Study of the Markets 
• Dr. Byron Johnson, Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences at Baylor University, Distinguished Professor of Religion and Society at the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University, and Faculty Affiliate of the Human Flourishing Program at Harvard University 
• Julian Ku, J.D., Maurice A. Deane Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law and Faculty Director of International Programs at the Maurice A. Deane School of Law at Hofstra University and Visiting Professor of Law at Columbia University Law School 
• Dr. Mark Moyar, William P. Harris Chair of Military History and Director of the Center of Military History and Strategy at Hillsdale College 
• Dr. Clara Piano, Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics at the University of Mississippi 
• Dr. Tyler Ransom, Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Oklahoma 
• Dr. Nathan Schlueter, Professor of Philosophy and Religion and Pre-Law Director at Hillsdale College 
• Dr. Colleen Sheehan, Professor in the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership at Arizona State University 
• John Yoo, J.D., Emmanuel S. Heller Chair in Law and Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of California at Berkeley School of Law and Distinguished Visiting Professor in the School of Civic Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin 

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.