The Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty, named in honor of perhaps the greatest champion of liberty in the 20th century, is presented every other year to an individual who has made a significant contribution to advance human freedom. The prize, a cash award of $250,000, will be presented at the Milton Friedman Prize for Advancing Liberty’s Biennial Dinner on May 21, 2014, in New York City at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

The late Nobel laureate Milton Friedman agreed in 2001 to lend his name to the prize, which has become the leading international award for acknowledging contributions to the promotion of individual liberty. In a statement at the time he said: “Those of us who were fortunate enough to live and be raised in a reasonably free society tend to underestimate the importance of freedom. We tend to take it for granted. It has made us in the West more complacent, so having a prize emphasizing liberty is extremely important.” Dr. Friedman died in 2006.

Garry Kasparov, keynote at the 2014 dinner

Garry Kasparov, former world chess champion, Russian pro-democracy leader, and global human-rights activist will deliver the Keynote Address at the 2014 Friedman Prize Dinner. Kasparov first gained international fame as the youngest world chess champion in history in 1985 at the age of 22.

After retiring professional chess in 2005, he rapidly became a vital part of the Russian pro-democracy movement against the repressive regime of Vladimir Putin. He formed the United Civil Front, of which he is still the chairman, and co-led The Other Russia coalition that focused on uniting the Russian opposition to Putin under the banner of free and fair elections.

His advocacy of liberty and democracy has become a global pursuit, as he travels and writes extensively.