American Experiment nominated for two national awards

Center of the American Experiment has been nominated for the Bob Williams Award for Outstanding Policy Achievement for Best Issue Campaign. The nomination recognized American Experiment’s campaign earlier this year to end the government shutdown and encourage legislators to return to the state capitol. The award is sponsored by the State Policy Network and recognizes the organization that ran the highest quality issue education campaign towards achieving a policy win. The nomination read:

Center of the American Experiment – End the Government Shutdown 
The 2024 elections in Minnesota brought a divided House with 67 Republicans to 67 Democrats. But the balance shifted when it was discovered that a Democratic representative had violated residency requirements, leading to a successful election contest that removed him from office. This gave Republicans a temporary 67-66 majority and importantly, the ability to choose the permanent House Speaker. Determined to block these efforts, Democrats chose to boycott the session entirely, denying a quorum and shutting down the state government.  

 In response, Center of the American Experiment launched its “End the Government Shutdown” campaign, mobilizing citizens through emails, social media, and targeted ads. After inspiring more than 20,000 citizens to contact their legislators, the campaign pressured Democrats to return after 23 days.   Their return allowed Republicans to elect a speaker and form a highly sought anti-fraud committee. Using data from American Experiment’s Scandal Tracker, the committee immediately began addressing Minnesota’s $661 million fraud crisis. This victory shows how citizen action can break gridlock and advance transparency, even in tough political environments like that of Minnesota. 

 “We’re more invested in results than winning awards, but it is nice to have our work recognized by our peers around the country,” said John Hinderaker, President of Center of the American Experiment.

American Experiment was also nominated for a Communications Excellence Award for the $7K for Kids campaign to pass an Education Savings Account (ESA) bill in Minnesota. The nomination for the Excellence in Storytelling award reads:

Center of the American Experiment – $7k For Kids
Through its $7K for Kids campaign, Center of the American Experiment—partnering with Opportunity for All Kids—launched a powerful, data-driven effort to build momentum for Education Savings Accounts (ESAs) in Minnesota. The campaign blended storytelling and strategy: video testimonials, 64 unique digital ads, and a robust call-to-action tool drove over 146,000 visits to the campaign site and more than 7,600 emails to lawmakers.

By targeting both parents and empathetic voters statewide, the campaign reached 1.3 million Minnesotans and delivered over 9.7 million impressions. The campaign also strengthened both organizations’ networks, expanding email lists and building a growing base of engaged school choice advocates. Center of the American Experiment’s work is laying the foundation to make ESAs a top legislative priority by 2027—and redefining the education conversation in Minnesota.

 Voting for both awards is open only to attendees of the SPN annual meeting in August 2025. American Experiment won the Best Issue award in 2020 and Most Influential Research award in 2019. They also won Communications Excellence awards in 2024 and 2022.