The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation awarded the 20th-anniversary Bradley Prize on Tuesday night to three men who the organization says continue to make “incredible contributions” to the conservative movement.
The foundation issues grants to organizations it believes are pushing forward conservative principles and gives out an annual prize to a group of people. William B. Allen, Samuel Gregg, and Jay Bhattacharya were the three men selected for the honor, which foundation President Rick Graber told the Washington Examiner is intended to commemorate people who champion the principles of the Bradley Foundation and its founders, Lynde and Harry Bradley.
“We know the brothers cared deeply about our constitutional order, federalism, separation of power, individual liberties. We know they truly believed in free enterprise and free markets. They care deeply about their community, civil society, and they believed that to be an effective citizen in our society, you have to be an informed citizen,” Graber told the Washington Examiner before the award ceremony on Tuesday.
“The grand prize … was to recognize those individuals within the conservative movement that really reflect those principles of the Bradley Foundation, that have achieved excellence in their careers, have continued to make incredible contributions,” he added.
According to the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, the three men are being celebrated for their “extraordinary work that exemplifies the Foundation’s mission to restore, strengthen, and protect the principles and institutions of American exceptionalism.” Their award comes with a $250,000 prize after they were selected from a pool of 60 nominations.
Tuesday’s event is a “celebration of the conservative movement,” according to Graber, who also said this year’s ceremony will be a “special evening” because it marks the prize’s 20th anniversary.
Graber had complimentary words for each of the three winners, calling Gregg “truly one of the preeminent scholars in today’s world on free enterprise and free markets” and hailing Allen as one of the “preeminent scholars on America’s founding and its founding principles.”
He specifically described Bhattacharya as a “champion of free speech” during the COVID-19 pandemic, noting the Stanford Medical School professor’s positions during the health crisis that strayed from government policies.
“He was someone who had a position and the best way to approach COVID during the pandemic and differed from what the government thought was correct, and he’s endured enormous pressure, both personally and professionally, to not speak up, and it’s something that he just was unwilling to accept,” Graber said.
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation president called Bhattacharya a “very courageous man who really epitomizes the importance of free speech, particularly when it comes to science. And scientists should disagree, they should argue, they should discuss to try to get to the right answer. And I think it’s pretty clear now with the benefit of hindsight that our government and certain scientists in positions of power made the wrong decision,” he added.
On the day of the anniversary award ceremony, Graber believes the organization has successfully “accomplished and achieved what it was intended to do” by recognizing those who “have made a difference with the causes that we think are important to sustain this republic” and is looking forward to many more years of the prize.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
“We do it every year, and every year just seems better than the last,” he said.
In 2023, Betsy DeVos, former secretary of education, was a recipient of the Bradley Prize, along with John H. Cochrane, the Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, and Nina Shea, senior fellow of the Hudson Institute.