Wilmington, DE, Dec. 04, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI), an organization that teaches college students core conservative principles, today announced the finalists for its prestigious Conservative Book of the Year award. This annual award recognizes a thoughtful book that contributes to the ongoing debate of conservative ideas.

The finalists for the 2020 award are:

• Timothy P. Carney, Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse
• Samuel Gregg, Reason, Faith, and the Struggle for Western Civilization
• Ted V. McAllister and Bruce Frohnen, Coming Home: Reclaiming America’s Conservative Soul
• Wilfred M. McClay, Land of Hope: An Invitation to the Great American Story
• George F. Will, The Conservative Sensibility
• Douglas Murray, The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race, and Identity

This year, ISI received more than 130 nominations for the award. A distinguished panel of third-party judges will select the winner from among the six finalists.

“The Conservative Book of the Year award is more important today than ever before,” said Charlie Copeland, president of ISI. “With mainstream book awards like the Pulitzer and National Book Award shutting out conservative authors, our goal at ISI is to celebrate them, their voices, and their ideas. I’d like to congratulate the six finalists for their exceptional work and applaud them for their commitment to exploring conservative principles in today’s heated political and social climate.”

The winner will be announced in January 2020 and will be honored at ISI’s annual Conservative Book of the Year award dinner on March 28 in St. Louis. The winning author will receive ISI’s Paolucci Book Award, in addition to a $10,000 cash prize.

The Conservative Book of the Year award has been in place for more than a decade. Notable past winners include Yoram Hazony’s The Virtue of Nationalism, Rod Dreher’s The Benedict Option, Bradley J. Birzer’s Russell Kirk: American Conservative, and Richard Brookhiser’s Founders’ Son: A Life of Abraham Lincoln.

For more information, please visit bookaward.isi.org.

About the Intercollegiate Studies Institute

The Intercollegiate Studies Institute inspires college students to discover, embrace, and advance the principles and virtues that make America free and prosperous. Most thoughtful college students are sick of getting a shallow education in which too many viewpoints are shut out. ISI teaches them the principles of liberty and plugs them into a vibrant intellectual community so that they get the collegiate experience they hunger for. ISI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit educational organization. For more information, visit isi.org.