The Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation has announced the winners of the 2005 Bradley Prizes, the Chicago Tribune reports.

The Bradley Prizes, which include a cash award of $250,000, recognize conservative scholars and thinkers whose work demonstrates "outstanding achievement consistent with the foundation's mission." This year's recipients include Princeton law professor and Catholic scholar Robert George; legal scholar Heather MacDonald of the Manhattan Institute; Ward Connerly, founder of the American Civil Rights Institute; and syndicated columnist George Will.

The prize program, which many on the right compare to the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation's annual MacArthur Fellow awards, was established two years ago by Bradley Foundation president and CEO Michael Grebe. "We created the program because there were few award programs that recognized conservatives," said Grebe.