Liberalism cannot be imposed. It only spreads through persuasion. That is why good storytelling and impactful writing are so essential in spreading the ideas of liberty, and it is our most accomplished authors we celebrate with the Writer of the Year award. Our 2026’s Writer of the Year is Ian Golan.
He is the first student to have become the Writer of the Year two consecutive years, having won the 2025 award last year as well. Since then, our media reach in Europe has only grown: the work of our students has been published almost 800 times, in local, national and international outlets, both printed and online.
Ian was responsible for a significant amount of these publications. Not only has he himself written and published 93 articles across a wide range of outlets, but as the Executive Publisher of the SpeakFreely Magazine, he helped many other students find their voice, mentoring them, editing their work, and publishing it in the magazine.
Last year, SpeakFreely published another great printed edition titled Freedom of Movement, featuring student articles, as well as interviews with Ilya Somin and Deirdre McCloskey, and the magazine also expanded into podcasts.
In his own work, Ian has addressed a wide range of subjects: the spread of right-wing authoritarianism and its ambitions to expand its hold over society and culture, nanny state regulations, as well as the difficult debates classical liberals face when security concerns arise.
The topic Ian focuses on the most however is the inefficiency of conscription policies, and the threat of such programmes being reintroduced across Europe. Besides publishing a range of articles on the topic in various outlets, Ian also launched a dedicated website to cover the topic more in-depth, and he shares regular news and research digests, covering any shifts in the conscription debate, as well as new evidence about the harm conscription causes.
He also compiled two research papers on the subject, The Nordic Conscription Myth and 89 Years of Conscription Around the World.
For all his own writings and engagement with some of the most important debates happening in Europe these days, as well as all the assistance he provides to aspiring pro-liberty writers, there is no doubt that Ian Golan is indeed our Writer of the Year.
