CEI announces Professor Donald J. Boudreaux as Simon awardee, CEO Mick Ebeling as keynote speaker, and historian Lindsay Chervinsky as emcee at the 2026 Julian L. Simon Memorial Award Dinner.

The Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) is pleased to announce that renowned economist Donald J. Boudreaux of George Mason University will receive the Julian L. Simon Memorial Award at the organization’s annual dinner on September 23 at the Library of Congress’s Jefferson Building in Washington. Founder and CEO of Not Impossible Labs Mick Ebeling will speak to “The next American treasure.” Lindsay Chervinsky, executive director of the George Washington Presidential Library at Mount Vernon, will serve as Mistress of Ceremonies. The occasion will be a homecoming for Chervinsky, an acclaimed presidential biographer and a former fellow with the Kluge Center at the Library of Congress.

Donald Boudreaux is an accomplished educator whose lectures on the nature of law, antitrust, economics, and international trade have inspired students, readers, and colleagues since he began teaching in 1985. Boudreaux is a pioneer in free market economics, authoring several books on the values of liberty, freedom, and prosperity. His most recent book The Triumph of Economic Freedom: Debunking the Seven Great Myths of American Capitalism was co-authored with former Senator Phil Gramm. Boudreaux cofounded the Café Hayek blog with Russ Roberts, where he’s been publishing for 22 years. He is also a senior fellow with the F.A. Hayek Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics; the Martha and Nelson Getchell Chair for the Study of Free Market Capitalism; and a board member at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. Early in his career, Boudreaux helped edit the CEI newsletter, “Washington Antitrust Report.”

“I am honored to accept this award celebrating the legacy of Julian Simon, the premier thinker on population and resources. Julian Simon’s notion that humans are the ultimate resource guides my work. He is ‘one of humankind’s relatively few non-renewable resources’,” said Boudreaux.

Mick Ebeling embodies the practical, resourceful, and innovative vision championed by Simon. As founder and CEO of Not Impossible Labs, Ebeling creates technology-driven solutions to today’s “impossible” humanitarian problems. As Ebeling says: “The reality, I believe, is that all change starts small. The big picture is just too unwieldy, too incomprehensible and seemingly immovable. But give us something individual, quantifiable, and personalize-able and, suddenly, our perspective shifts to the one.”

“Don Boudreaux is devoted to the principle of expanding human capital.  He brings a keen eye to the toughest contemporary questions in political economy.  His honed communication techniques reach far beyond the classroom to the public and policymakers alike.  Like Julian Simon, Don intuitively knows that sound arguments supported by good information must be shared to drive out the false, misleading, and self-serving elements in civic debates.  He is a force multiplier for clear thinking and advancing a vision for a freer and more prosperous world,” CEI’s President and CEO Kent Lassman said.

Lassman continued, “We are excited to celebrate Julian Simon and introduce our guests to Boudreaux, Ebeling, and Chervinsky.”

The 2026 dinner will celebrate American Treasures in honor of the 250^th anniversary of our nation’s founding and will be held at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC on Wednesday, September 23, 2026.