Liberty Medal

The 37th annual Liberty Medal will be awarded to the beloved Broadway hit, Hamilton, which marks its 10th anniversary this year, and the acclaimed historian and biographer, Ron Chernow, whose book inspired the musical. The Liberty Medal ceremony will take place on October 17, 2025, at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.

In addition to a fireside chat between Ron Chernow and NCC President and CEO Jeffrey Rosen, the ceremony will include performances from Philadelphia native Ta’Rea Campbell, who played Angelica Schuyler in the national tour of Hamilton for five years, and Heather Leslie Sanchez, a senior at Piscataway Magnet School, the 2024-2025 Hamilton Education Program competition winner.

Please note, that while we do not anticipate Lin-Manuel Miranda to be in attendance in Philadelphia, we do expect to honor Hamilton with video acceptance remarks during the ceremony.

The Liberty Medal is made possible thanks to support from corporations, foundations, and individuals with proceeds going to further the work of the National Constitution Center. Learn more about individual tickets and sponsorship opportunities.

Ron Chernow, a masterful storyteller of American history, brings our nation’s past vividly to life through his award-winning biographies of extraordinary figures. His debut, The House of Morgan, received the National Book Award, while Washington: A Life earned the Pulitzer Prize for Biography. His celebrated Alexander Hamilton won the George Washington Book Prize. A two-time finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, Chernow is one of only three living biographers to be honored with the Gold Medal for Biography from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A former president of PEN America, he has also been awarded nine honorary doctorates. His most recent biography of Mark Twain was published in May and debuted as number one on The New York Times bestseller list. The Times of London hailed the book as “a model biography, one of the finest of recent years.”

Based on Ron Chernow’s acclaimed biography and set to a score that blends hip-hop, jazz, R&B, and Broadway, Hamilton has had a profound impact on culture, politics, and education. In addition to its 11 Tony Awards, it has won Grammy and Olivier Awards, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and an unprecedented special citation from the Kennedy Center Honors. Hamilton features a book, music, and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, direction by Thomas Kail, choreography by Andy Blankenbuehler, and musical supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire. Hamilton’s portion of the Liberty Medal prize will benefit Gilder Lehrman’s Hamilton Education Program.

Ta'Rea Campbell was born and raised in Philadelphia. She graduated from the High School for Creative and Performing Arts and went on to receive a degree in theater from Marymount Manhattan College in New York City. Shortly thereafter, Campbell began her professional acting career by joining the national touring company of AIDA. Since then, she has appeared in seven shows on Broadway and several other national tours. Some of her favorite roles include Nala in Disney's The Lion King, the original companies of Little Shop of Horrors, Leap of Faith, the multi-Tony Award winning The Book of Mormon, and two Broadway plays in the 2024–2025 season. She can currently be seen in Stranger Things: The First Shadow playing now on Broadway. Spending five years playing Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton has been one of the highlights of her career. 

Heather Leslie Sanchez is a 17-year-old student from Carteret, N.J., currently in her senior year at Piscataway Magnet School. In the 2024-2025 period, she was selected as the Hamilton Education Program competition winner. Sanchez was also selected as the student performer for the Gilder Lehrman Foundation’s annual gala honoring Hamilton. Much of her singing experience stems from her involvement with the creative arts in both her local church and in her school. As a Broadway lover, and a huge Hamilton fan, her musical piece, “Letters from Washington to Congress,” serves as a testament to the legacy of Hamilton, and its impact on the way history is viewed. She wrote this song with the intention of shedding light on the importance of history and the beauty of storytelling through music.  

Thank you to our prize sponsor.

Underwriters

The Andrea W. and Kenneth C. Frazier Foundation

Patrons

The George Family Foundation

Sponsors

The Bezos Family

Elizabeth Luttig & Judge J. Michael Luttig

Cindy & Sheldon Stone

Supporters

Therese Obringer

Louise Reed

Established in 1988 to commemorate the bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, the Liberty Medal honors men and women of courage and conviction who strive to secure the blessings of liberty to people around the globe. The Medal was first administered by the National Constitution Center in 2006 when Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton were recognized for their bipartisan humanitarian efforts on behalf of victims of natural disasters in Southeast Asia and the Gulf Coast. The Medal’s roster of recipients includes many of the men, women, and organizations that have shaped and guided the world through the past three decades, including Nelson Mandela, Sandra Day O’Connor, Kofi Annan, Malala Yousafzai, and Colin Powell.

The National Constitution Center in Philadelphia brings together people of all ages and perspectives, across America and around the world, to learn about, debate, and celebrate the greatest vision of human freedom in history, the U.S. Constitution. A private, nonprofit organization, we serve as America’s leading platform for constitutional education and debate, fulfilling our congressional charter “to disseminate information about the United States Constitution on a nonpartisan basis in order to increase awareness and understanding of the Constitution among the American people.” As the Museum of We the People, we bring the Constitution to life for visitors of all ages through interactive programs and exhibits. As America’s Town Hall, we convene the leading conservative and liberal thought leaders to debate the Constitution on all media platforms. As a Headquarters for Civic Education, we offer the best educational programs and online resources that inspire and engage all Americans in learning about the U.S. Constitution. For more information, call 215-409-6700 or visit constitutioncenter.org.

For information about sponsoring the Liberty Medal, please contact Rachel Dellon at [email protected]. For general inquiries, please contact, [email protected].