2021 Free Expression Awards

Don your best sweatpants or sequins and join us online for this year’s Free Expression Awards, supporting the educational work of the Freedom Forum Institute. The 2021 awards will recognize individuals for their courageous acts of free and fearless expression.

We also are excited to announce the first Free Expression Festival, April 12–15, featuring in-depth conversations with this year’s honorees on how they have used their First Amendment freedoms to ignite change.

Festival schedule

• A Conversation with Dave Barry
  April 12 – 2:00 p.m. ET
• A Conversation with DeRay Mckesson
  April 13 – 2:00 p.m. ET
• A Conversation with Julie K. Brown
  April 14 – 2:00 p.m. ET
• A Conversation with William McGurn
  April 15 – 2:00 p.m. ET

Hosted by Lester Holt, anchor of NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt and Dateline NBC, and chaired by John and Cynthia Lee, the 2021 awards will honor:

• Julie K. Brown, investigative reporter, Miami Herald
• Jimmy Lai, former chairman and founder, Apple Daily and Next Digital, Hong Kong
• DeRay Mckesson, civil rights and social justice activist
• Gen. Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
• Susan Stamberg, Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer and in memory of Cokie Roberts, founding mothers of NPR
• Susan Wojcicki, chief executive officer, YouTube

Signature Sponsor
Platinum Sponsors
Silver Sponsors Altria Group • Barbara Bonessa & Alan Perkins • Mike & Mary Louise Coleman • Goldman Sachs • Heather & Paul G. Haaga Jr. • John S. & James L. Knight Foundation • Jack & Diane Kirschenbaum • Malcolm & Jane Kirschenbaum • Kleiner Perkins • John & Cynthia Lee • Jan Neuharth & Joseph Keusch • News Corp • NPR • Charles and Andrea Overby • Sequentur • Barbara Wall
Free Expression Gift Box Sponsor DLA Piper
Registration Sponsors APCO Worldwide • CBS News • John Hopkins University • The Mark and Sally Ein Foundation • Raffa – Marcum’s Nonprofit & Social Sector Group • Savills • The Wall Street Journal

To learn about sponsoring the 2021 Free Expression Awards, or to make a contribution to support our work, contact Elizabeth Dickson at [email protected].