Atlas Network is proud to present the 2025 Europe Liberty Award to Georgia's Future Academy. The award was accepted by Alexander Zibzibadze at Europe Liberty Forum 2025 in Brussels, Belgium.
The Europe Liberty Award is part of the Templeton Freedom Award prize program sponsored by Templeton Religion Trust—named for the late investor and philanthropist Sir John Templeton. In addition to Latin America, the program sponsors awards in Africa, Asia, Latin America, North America, and the Middle East and North Africa. Its grand prize, the Templeton Freedom Award, is presented annually at Atlas Network’s Liberty Forum and Freedom Dinner in New York City.
Georgia’s Future Academy has emerged as a crucial pro-democracy force through strategic youth mobilization. During the 2024 parliamentary elections, the organization mobilized, trained, and deployed over 2,000 election observers for the “My Vote” campaign to counter widespread electoral fraud in Georgia and address the country’s severe democratic backsliding. Georgia’s Future Academy also built several of the country’s largest civic education programs, including the #IDEBATE program and the Franklin Academy, totaling more than 5,000 alumni who now make up Georgia’s largest and most engaged pro-liberty youth network—both in-person and online. Georgia’s youth liberty movement is now an integral bulwark against increasing restrictions on civil society, such as the “Foreign Agents Law.” And young Georgians’ efforts have been amplified on social media, with the organization’s #MartisIdebi channel garnering over 10 million views in a matter of months.
This year's other finalists were EPICENTER and Association Multi.
“There is growing consensus that Europe’s economies need to regain their competitiveness, and Atlas Network’s independent partners are leading the way to make Europe more competitive,” said Atlas Network CEO Brad Lips. “By championing free-market reforms even in the face of adversity, idea entrepreneurs at local think tanks and ‘do tanks’—from Bosnia and Herzegovina to Belgium to the Republic of Georgia and beyond—make the case for individual liberty to everyday citizens and policymakers with the power to enact meaningful reforms. Their work to limit the long arm of government and unleash Europe’s entrepreneurial energy transcends partisan lines, and we are proud to celebrate such ardent champions of freedom at Europe Liberty Forum—this year and always.”