The Foundation for Economic Freedom, an Atlas Network partner in Quezon City, Philippines, has won Atlas Network’s 2019 Templeton Freedom Award for their work to end restrictions on agricultural land patents, liberating billions of dollars in land values and potentially transforming the country’s entire agricultural sector. The award, which carries a cash prize of $100,000, was presented at Atlas Network’s gala Freedom Dinner on November 7.

Sharing the message of liberty was a key theme of Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner 2019, which brought together more than 800 participants from six continents for two days of conference sessions, networking, and building new opportunities for change around the world. This year’s highlights included Cornerstone Talks, the Lights, Camera, Liberty Film Festival, Think Tank Shark Tank, a moving tribute to Donald Smith, and the announcement of the winner of the 2019 Templeton Freedom Award.

Anuki Premachandra of Advocata Institute won the 2019 John Blundell Elevator Pitch Competition at Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner. Premachandra spoke about efforts to cut taxes on sanitary napkins in Sri Lanka, which has made hygiene products unaffordable and kept girls out of school and women out of work. This year’s contestants came from Atlas Network’s new Leader Lab training. This competition honors the late John Blundell, who served for twenty years as director general at the Institute of Economic Affairs.

“This is an occasion to celebrate the goodness and the kindness and the generosity and the integrity of a friend,” remembered Dr. Tom Palmer, Executive Vice President for International Programs and George M. Yeager Chair for Advancing Liberty. Palmer reflected on the legacy of one of the greatest advocates of freedom, the late Donald Smith, who passed away on October 30. “His goodness lives on through the millions and millions of lives he saved from tyranny.”

Quota, a short film by Pacific Legal Foundation that challenges systemic race-based discrimination in Connecticut schools, has been named the winner of the 2019 Lights, Camera, Liberty Film Festival. Lights, Camera, Liberty is an annual film workshop that helps Atlas Network partners transform the way they market their messages through online video. Each participant organization that completes the annual workshop is eligible for the award, which is presented annually at Atlas Network’s Liberty Forum in New York City.

The Freedom Research Association, based in Turkey, has produced an online course on the rule of law that provides an education from legal experts on the importance of justice and fairness. The course focuses on both practical and philosophical perspectives on the law, a view that is not always accessible in the Middle East. Freedom Research Association pitched this project at the 2017 Think Tank Shark Tank.

Costa Rica Beer Factory started six years ago as just a small restaurant in San José. Today, it has four restaurants, a brewery, a small distributorship, an event venue that hosts craft beer fests and other cultural events, and has become a fixture in the community. Instituto de Desarrollo Empresarial y Acción Social led a widespread effort to remove barriers to doing business, and their success at improving access to credit has had an enormous impact on small businesses like Costa Rica Beer Factory.

Connor Boyack of the Libertas Institute won the 2019 Think Tank Shark Tank with his family-oriented curriculum, “The Free Market Rules.” Using stories about free-market economics, children of all ages and their parents learn the ideas of a free society. Think Tank Shark Tank offers think tank leaders the opportunity to pitch projects to a panel of judges to win $25,000 in seed-funding. The other finalists were Adriana Pineda of CEDICE Futuro and Dhananath Fernando of the Advocata Institute.

Atlas Network is proud to announce the launch of the Center for U.S. and Canada, a new opportunity to focus on the role that free markets, property rights, and the rule of law have in creating the conditions for people to thrive throughout North America. Under the direction of John Tillman, the Center for U.S. and Canada will support Atlas Network’s regional partner organizations in their efforts to create positive perceptions of the role of free enterprise and individual liberty in advancing a freer, more prosperous world for all.

The first-ever U.S. Investors Summit for Liberty awarded $500,000 in general support grants to 10 U.S.-based partner organizations. Modeled after venture capital investor summits, where a curated selection of capital seekers pitch their “undervalued” companies to high-capacity investors during one concentrated networking event, the Investors Summit placed special attention on projects that focused on emotional as well as intellectual appeals for freedom.