HONORING AMERICAN EXCELLENCE. STEWARDED ACROSS GENERATIONS.™
THE AMERICA FIRST ACADEMY OF ARTS & SCIENCES™ (AFAAS™)
A standards-setting national recognition institution. Honoring enduring American excellence. Stewarded across generations.™
AMERICA 250
REMEMBRANCE. REVERENCE.
JULY 4, 2026 — JULY 4, 2027
THE NEXT 250
RECOGNITION. RENEWAL.
MISSION
The Academy is a patriotic, non-partisan, non-political institution committed to strengthening America’s free institutions and recognizing contributions that expand freedom, opportunity, security, innovation, and long-term flourishing for the American people.
For the Academy, patriotism reflects stewardship, service, gratitude, and enduring contribution to America’s strength, leadership, and future flourishing — independent of political affiliation.
The America First Academy of Arts & Sciences™ (AFAAS™) is an independent, academy-governed institution dedicated to recognizing enduring excellence, service, and contribution across arts, science, culture, leadership, innovation, and civic life — as measured by their role in advancing America's leadership, prosperity, security, and long-term flourishing.
The Academy establishes, governs, and confers distinct ceremonial formats, including the America First Awards™ — a recurring national broadcast cultural ceremony recognizing excellence that contributes to America’s strength and leadership across defined categories — the America First Prize™ — an incentive prize to catalyze breakthrough solutions that strengthen America’s long‑term leadership — and America First Honors™ — a formal national broadcast conferral recognizing enduring lifetime contribution in service to the nation.
The Academy does not confer recognition based on domain excellence alone, but on the broader impact of that work in advancing the strength, values, and long-term flourishing of the United States.
The Academy is a standards-setting national recognition institution dedicated to preserving, elevating, and celebrating enduring American civic and cultural excellence — defined by its contribution to a strong, sovereign, and flourishing United States — stewarded across institutions and generations.
Excellence is measured by contribution to America — not category.
The Academy seeks not only to recognize excellence, but to help document, preserve, and elevate examples of excellence that may inform future generations.
GOVERNANCE
AFAAS™ serves as the independent governing and standards-setting body for all Academy programs and recognitions.
An independent, patriotic, non-partisan, academy-governed institution established to recognize enduring excellence, service, and contribution to the great American experiment.
All recognitions are conferred in alignment with established institutional standards, ensuring consistency, independence, and long-term credibility.
PROGRAMS
The Academy establishes and confers distinct ceremonial formats recognizing excellence based on contribution to the strength, leadership, and long-term flourishing of the United States.
- America First Honors™ — Invitation-only, lifetime recognitions conferred by the Academy’s trustees as the highest, institutionally governed honors of AFAAS™, recognizing enduring national legacy and civic-cultural impact.
Awards recognize achievement. Honors recognize enduring contribution.
- America First Awards™ — Academy-sanctioned recognitions highlighting exemplary national, civic, cultural, and strategic contribution, presented through a non-competitive, institutionally governed process.
- National Intelligence Infrastructure Awards™ (NII Awards™) — are invitation-only, Academy‑sanctioned recognitions advancing America’s AI‑driven infrastructure for national prosperity, civic resilience, and national security. A flagship national recognition program of the America First Academy of Arts & Sciences™.
- America First Prize™ — Academy-sanctioned incentive prizes to catalyze breakthrough solutions that strengthen long-term national security, peace, global leadership and flourishing of America.
- America First Journals™ — Academy-sanctioned archival and editorial documentation of local, state, and national civic and cultural impact, developed in phases.
INSTITUTIONAL POSTURE
- The Academy operates with deliberate restraint.
- Programs are developed quietly, aligned institutionally, and introduced only when standards and stewardship are secured.
- The Academy is structured to serve future generations through enduring standards, not momentary recognition, and beyond any individual program, era, or person.
LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
AFAAS™ recognizes enduring contribution across culture, leadership, science, innovation, and civic life through institutional standards rather than political preference.
Stewarding civic and cultural excellence so future generations of Americans can live in freedom, opportunity, and shared prosperity.
Academy standards govern. Recognition signals. Cultural authority follows.
The America First Academy of Arts & Sciences™ exists to safeguard and celebrate enduring civic, cultural, and strategic excellence — stewarded across generations and sustained by the enduring American spirit.™
ACADEMY INSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE PRINCIPLES
The following governance principles reflect the policies and institutional standards established by the America First Academy of Arts & Sciences™ (AFAAS™)
WHO MAY SUPPORT THE ACADEMY:
ACADEMY INDEPENDENCE & NATIONAL INTEREST POLICY
The Academy does not accept gifts, contributions, sponsorships, or other financial support from foreign governments. In addition, the Academy will not accept support from any individual or entity owned or controlled by, directed by, materially financed by, or acting on behalf of a country designated by the United States as a foreign adversary under 15 CFR § 791.4, as amended. The Academy reserves the right to decline any gift, contribution, sponsorship, or other support that could compromise, or reasonably create the appearance of compromising, its independence, institutional integrity, governance, reputation, or alignment with the national interest.
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HOW GOVERNMENT PARTICIPATION WORKS:
CONGRESSIONAL ETHICS COMPLIANCE POLICY
The Academy intends to plan and conduct award programs in a manner consistent with applicable federal ethics laws, regulations, and guidance governing the participation of Members of Congress, congressional staff, executive branch officials, and other public officials, including, where applicable, the widely attended event provisions of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate ethics rules. All invitations and participation by government officials remain subject to the ethics requirements and approvals applicable to their respective offices. Nothing in this policy is intended to supersede or modify the ethics obligations applicable to any invited public official or employee.
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WHO MAY INVITE GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS:
GOVERNMENT INVITATIONS & PROTOCOL POLICY
The Academy maintains exclusive authority to issue or authorize invitations to Members of Congress, congressional staff, executive branch officials, military leaders, and other government representatives for academy programs. Founding Support Partners, participants, vendors, and other third parties may not independently extend invitations on behalf of the Academy award programs. All government participation remains subject to the ethics requirements, review procedures, and approvals applicable to the invited individual’s office or agency.
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INSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE & ETHICS COMPLIANCE:
AFAAS™ is an independent, non-partisan, academy-governed entity. Corporate Founding Support Partners and sponsors play no role in award selection, judging, or recipient determination, thereby preserving the Academy's independence and avoiding commercial endorsement or conflict-of-interest concerns.
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The America First Academy of Arts & Sciences™ (AFAAS™) is an independent, academy-governed, non-partisan cultural institution.
All awards and recognitions are created, governed, and conferred by AFAAS™.
America First Network™ (AFN™) is the official media and technology production and distribution platform for America First Awards™ and National Intelligence Infrastructure Awards™ programming and related content. America First Network™ is operated by America First Network, LLC.
Production, distribution, broadcast, and media relationships — including America First Network™ — confer no role, influence, or control over honoree selection, award determinations, or Academy governance. Any participation in award-program activities is governed separately by established AFAAS™ and NII Awards™ governance.
America First Academy of Arts & Sciences™, AFAAS™, America First Awards™, America First Honors™, America First Prize™, America First Hall of Fame™, America First Network™, AFN™, America First Studios™, National Intelligence Infrastructure™, National Intelligence Infrastructure Awards™, NII Awards™, Honoring the Best of AI™, NII Hall of Fame™, For People Who Love America™, and related marks are trademarks of AFAAS, LLC.
Use of these marks in commerce constitutes common-law trademark rights under U.S. law.
National Intelligence Infrastructure™ is stewarded by AFAAS™ for broad public use.
See AFAAS.us/public-use-notice/
© 2026 AFAAS, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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