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Thomas S. Szasz Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties

CENTER FOR INDEPENDENT THOUGHT

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Overview

Thomas S. Szasz Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Cause of Civil Liberties

Status: Program concluded after 2020 (final awards presented in 2020 after 30 years)

Overview: The Thomas S. Szasz Award was presented annually to individuals who made outstanding contributions to civil liberties and individual rights, honoring the legacy of Thomas S. Szasz (1920-2012), a renowned psychiatrist and lifelong champion of individual liberty, voluntary interaction, the rule of law, and open society.

Focus Areas:

  • Civil liberties and individual rights

  • Defense of liberty in psychiatry and psychology

  • Classical-liberal values

  • Opposition to state coercion

  • Work on criminal justice, drug policy, and civil liberties

    • Award Categories:

  • General award for civil liberties

  • Professional category (for professionals in relevant fields)

  • Lifetime Achievement Award (occasional)

    • Geographic Scope: Primarily United States, though international recipients were considered

    About Thomas S. Szasz:

  • Born in Budapest in 1920, died in Syracuse in 2012

  • Distinguished professor of psychiatry at State University of New York Health Science Center/Syracuse

  • Author of approximately 25 books including The Myth of Mental Illness and The Therapeutic State

  • Author of hundreds of scholarly articles

  • Defender of individual rights in psychiatry and psychology for over five decades

    • Notable Past Winners Include:

  • Radley Balko (2020) - Washington Post columnist on criminal justice and civil liberties

  • Edward Snowden (2020) - Lifetime Achievement Award for whistleblowing on mass surveillance

  • Mario J. Rizzo and Glen Whitman (2020) - Economists, professional award

  • John Stossel (2015) - Journalist and TV host

  • Ed Crane (2013) - Founder and president emeritus of Cato Institute

  • Vladimir Bukovsky (2007) - Soviet dissident

  • Nat Hentoff (2001) - Renowned columnist and civil liberties advocate

  • Phil Zimmermann (1996) - Computer privacy champion, Pretty Good Privacy encryption developer

  • Julie Stewart (1995) - Founder of Families Against Mandatory Minimums

  • Richard Epstein (1992) - Law professor

  • Peter Bauer (1994) - Development economist

  • Joan Kennedy Taylor (2005) - Libertarian feminist

    • Funder: Center for Independent Thought (CIT), a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt non-profit educational foundation

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