ATLAS HONORS 26 INSTITUTES in the 2006 TEMPLETON FREEDOM AWARDS PROGRAM

Arlington, VA, March 13, 2006 -- Atlas has honored twenty-six institutes from over 150 applicants with prizes and grants in the 2006 Templeton Freedom Awards program. The Templeton Freedom Prizes for Excellence in Promoting Liberty celebrates the work of nonprofit organizations dedicated to the free society. Many of this year’s winners conducted research and advocacy programs that empower the poor by equipping them with better access to education, legal rights, business loans, and an understanding of the market. The prizes are organized into four categories: Free Market Solutions to Poverty, Social Entrepreneurship, Ethics & Values, and Student Outreach. Winning institutes in each category receive $10,000 prizes; second-place prize-winners receive $5,000 each.

Free Market Solutions to Poverty: The E. G. West Centre (University of Newcastle, United Kingdom) won first place for an eye-opening research program comparing educational achievement among poor children in public and private schools in Ghana, India, Kenya, and Nigeria. The Centre’s research, which became the subject of two BBC documentaries, found that children living in the four countries’ poorest villages and slums were far better served by private schools than by government-run schools. In addition, the researchers found that the “private schools achieved higher standards . . . at considerably lower cost.” The runner-up was the Centre for Independent Studies (Australia), whose research and advocacy work focused on improving the living conditions of, and opportunities available to, impoverished Aboriginal communities in remote areas of their country.

Social Entrepreneurship: The Education Advancement Fund International (headquartered in Hawaii) won the top prize for its successful Small Loan Initiative for Rural Women in Xiangxi, China, a program to empower poor women through education, training, and small-business loans. South Africa’s Law Review Project received second place for its efforts to eliminate apartheid-era laws discriminating against black-owned businesses.

Ethics & Values: Austria’s Friedrich A. v. Hayek Institut, named for the late Nobel Prize winner, received the top prize for a conference series, “Austrian Economics Today,” explaining the relationship between economics and society’s ethical and moral traditions. Hayek’s landmark book, The Road to Serfdom, published in 1944, explained how government control of economic resources and decisions ultimately could lead to totalitarianism, affecting a nation’s social fabric as well as its economy. The second-place prize was awarded to Argentina’s Asociación Cristiana de Dirigentes de Empresa (Association of Christian Business Managers) for a nationwide seminar program for business leaders focusing on the ethical basis of sound business decisions.

Student Outreach: The Israel Center for Social and Economic Progress won the top prize. The organization’s programs are intended to introduce Israeli high-school and college students to free-market principles and practices. The Center for Free Enterprise (South Korea) received the second-place prize for its Free Market Education Course, which is now taught to undergraduates at universities throughout the country.

Atlas named the nine winners of this year’s Templeton Freedom Award Grants. This year’s winners come from every region of the world. They are:

· Albanian Liberal Institute (Albania)

· Centre for Independent Studies (Australia)

· Freedom Institute (Indonesia)

· Frontier Centre for Public Policy (Canada)

· Hellenic Leadership Institute (Greece)

· IMANI: The Centre for Humane Education (Ghana)

· Institute for Market Economics (Bulgaria)

· Instituto Liberdade do Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil)

· Ludwig von Mises Institute (Romania)

The Templeton Freedom Award Grants specifically honor promising organizations, especially in parts of the world where there are few independent voices advocating economic freedom, individual liberty, and limited government under the rule of law. Each winning think tank receives a $10,000 general grant to help the institute carry on with its work.

Unlike the previous two years, Atlas only awards ten $10,000 grants in 2006. With over 150 applications, Atlas has chosen to give special recognition to the following ten organizations, awarding each with an honorable-mention grant of $5,000:

· Beijing Siyuan Research Center (China)

· Bishkek Business Club (Kyrgyzstan)

· Center for Politisker Studier (Denmark)

· Fuping Development Institute (China)

· Instituto de Libre Empresa (Peru)

· Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies (Israel)

· Liberal Group of Kerala (India)

· Liberalni Institut (Czech Republic)

· Scientific Research Mises Center (Belarus)

· Romania Think Tank (Romania)

The Atlas Economic Research Foundation (www.atlasUSA.org) launched the Templeton Freedom Awards program in September 2003 with a four-year pledge from the John Templeton Foundation to reward scores of public policy institutes with more than $1,250,000 in prizes and grants.

For more information about this year’s winners, please contact Jennifer Berkowitz at 540-751-1597.