The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is pleased to announce the winners and speakers for its annual Julian L. Simon Memorial Awards Dinner, to be held on Thursday, September 19th in Washington, DC.
The 2024 Julian L. Simon Memorial Prize will be awarded to Magath Wade, an entrepreneur, author and speaker committed to enabling African prosperity through entrepreneurship and innovation. The prize celebrates Julian Simon’s vision of humanity as the ultimate resource and recognizes the outstanding current work that advances that vision. A native of Senegal, Wade is the author of The Heart of a Cheetah: What We’ve Been Lied About Poverty in Africa and What It Means for Human Prosperity (2023) and co-founder of Prospera Africa.
For the second time in its 40-year history, CEI will also award its Prometheus Prize for Human Achievement. The 2024 recipient will be Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist George F. Will, who writes a biweekly column in the The Washington Post Will is the author of numerous books on politics, domestic policy, and foreign affairs, including “American Happiness and Discontents: The Unruly Torrent 2008-2020” (2021) and “The Conservative Sensibility” (2019). The award recognizes Will’s lifetime contributions to intellectual, political, and civic life. Will will deliver the keynote address to dinner attendees.
“We are pleased to recognize these two individuals for their immeasurable contributions to humanity,” said CEI President and CEO Kent Rathman. “Magat Wade is a voice for entrepreneurs around the world who have been overlooked by state institutions. She is a passionate advocate for African and Senegalese women, and all people willing to take risks to improve the lives of others through free enterprise. Her work embodies the legacy of Julian Simon and is a testament to the age-old belief that human dignity and responsibility lead to greater prosperity for all.”
“George F. Will is a civic, intellectual and political giant of our time. Prometheus ignites the flames that give birth to civilization, and Will lights the fires of moral imagination necessary for free people to pursue their lives on their own terms.”
The Sept. 19 event will celebrate CEI’s 40th anniversary.Number The event will be held at the Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and will be moderated by CEI’s Jessica Melgin. This year’s theme is “Prometheus: Rebel of Humanity,” the titan who stole fire from the gods and brought knowledge, progress, technology, empathy, and civil society to humanity.
event information:
Julian L. Simon Memorial Award Ceremony
Thursday, September 19, 2024, 6:00 PM – 12:00 AM ET
Washington National Cathedral
Biography:
Simon Award Winners
Maggatt Wade She advocates for African prosperity through free enterprise and cheap, abundant and reliable energy. She is co-founder of Prospera Africa, which is introducing the Prospera model of new free market jurisdictions to Africa, and founder of SkinIsSkin.com, which manufactures products in Africa. She is the author of: The Heart of a Cheetah: How We’ve Been Lied to About Poverty in Africa and What It Means for Human FlourishingShe has appeared on podcasts by TED Global, Jordan Peterson, Reason, Lex Fridman, Robert Breedlove, Michael Maris, Liv Borie, and many others, and has spoken at Harvard, MIT, UC Berkeley, Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, and many other universities. Born in Senegal, educated in France and began her career in the United States, she is fluent in Wolof, French, and English.
Prometheus Award Winners and Keynote Speeches
George Will He writes a column twice a week about politics and domestic and international affairs. post Will published American Happiness and Discontents in 1974 and won a Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 1977. He is also a regular contributor to MSNBC and NBC News. His latest book, American Happiness and Discontents, will be released in September 2021. His other books include The Conservative Sensibility (2019), One Man’s America: The Pleasures and Provocations of Our Singular Nation (2008), Restoration: Congress, Term Limits and the Recovery of Deliberative Democracy (1992), Men at Work: The Craft of Baseball (1989), The New Season: A Spectator’s Guide to the 1988 Election (1987), and Statecraft as Soulcraft (1983). Will grew up in Champaign, Illinois, attended Trinity College and Oxford University, and received his PhD from Princeton University.
Awards: 1977 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Op-Ed, 1979 National Magazine Award Finalist for Essay and Criticism, 1978 National Headliner Award, 1980 Silurian Award for Editorial Writing, 1985 Washington Journalism Review named Will its best writer of all time, 1997 National Journal named one of Washington’s 25 most influential journalists
chairperson
Jessica Melgin He is director of the Center for Technology Innovation at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, where his research focuses on technology issues including antitrust law, online privacy, artificial intelligence, telecommunications, social media content, and net neutrality regulation, and is an antitrust and competition policy fellow at the Innovators Network Foundation.
