If you’ve had the privilege of meeting Aldina and have any memories or photos you’d like to share, please email Isidora Kolar who will be putting together a memorial book for her family: [email protected]

The curtains have just closed on Atlas Network’s Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner in New York City but the energy from this year’s gathering is still electric. Last week, leaders and champions of freedom from 68 countries came together, reminding us all of the substantial momentum remaining behind the worldwide Liberty Movement. 

This year’s Templeton Freedom Award was presented to Georgia’s Future Academy — an organization that has become a beacon of civic resilience at a time when democratic institutions in Georgia face intense pressure. Through student academies, public debates, policy forums, and courageous calls for peaceful civic engagement during periods of political unrest, they are equipping both today’s citizens and tomorrow’s leaders with the ideas and courage needed to defend a free society.

Video: Michael Carnuccio sits down with Alexander Zibzibadze, the courageous founder and chairman of Georgia’s Future Academy

In the Smart Bets Pitch Competition, the top prize went to Nataliya Melnyk and the Bendukidze Free Market Center in Ukraine. Their winning initiative is dramatically expanding economic education and critical-thinking programs for Ukrainian youth with free-market-friendly curricula, interactive courses, and innovative communication tools. In a nation under siege, this work is planting the intellectual seeds that will one day help rebuild a free, prosperous, and sovereign Ukraine.

The 2025 Sir Antony Fisher Achievement Award was presented to Dan Grossman, in honor of a lifetime of quiet leadership. After retiring from a distinguished business career at age 50, Dan went on to deliver what adds up to more than a century of concurrent board service across liberty-oriented organizations. His wisdom, generosity, and behind-the-scenes leadership have strengthened such institutions on every continent — nearly always without fanfare, and always with unwavering commitment to freedom. 

The dates are already set for next year’s Liberty Forum & Freedom Dinner: November 11–12, 2026, returning to the Sheraton New York Times Square. 

Following a string of highly successful and energizing years in Prague, the Free Cities Foundation is ready to take its annual conference to the next level. And what could possibly be a more fitting move than bringing the Free Cities Conference to Próspera, Honduras, one of the most ambitious cities on the planet. But in the face of an uncertain future due to significant political and legal opposition, bringing the conference to the heart of the struggle represents a bold statement that autonomy will prevail over suppression and free cities are here to stay.