Al Gore and Michael Moore have their Oscars and Jimmy Carter's got a Nobel Peace Prize. But none of them are likely ever to win a Bradley.

The Bradley Prizes are awarded annually to intellectuals who have committed the unpardonable intellectual sin of being conservative.

Thursday's Bradley ceremony at the Kennedy Center's Terrace Theater was perhaps the most impressive event I've attended since moving to Washington in 1997. Previous Bradley winners have included Thomas Sowell, Leon Kass, Mary Ann Glendon, Robert P. George, Heather MacDonald, Ward Connerly, Fouad Ajami, Clint Bolick, Hernando de Soto, and Shelby Steele.

This year's Bradleys went to former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton, Harvard economics professor Martin Feldstein, husband-and-wife duo Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom of the Manhattan Institute, and Pepperdine University professor James Q. Wilson.

"We hope through these prizes to inspire other people to similar achievement," said Michael W. Greebe, president of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, which sponsors the awards. "It's nice to make the home team feel good about themselves."

With Fox News Channel's Brit Hume as emcee, the ceremony was spectacular. The acceptance speeches were, as might be expected, enlightened and enlightening. Mr. Bolton warned against "the seduction of the bureaucracy, while Mr. Feldstein -- who was chief
economic adviser to President Reagan -- said that "the batttle for economic liberty is never over."

The Thernstroms, who have been married for 48 years and are the authors of several books on race relations, are highly critical of racial preferences in college admissions. Mrs. Thernstrom lamented that civil rights groups now defend race-based discrimination. "Steve and I never left the civil rights movement. The civil rights establishment left us," she said.

Mr. Wilson, whose "American Government" is the most widely used textbook on the subject, warned that many American campuses "have become prisoners in the death-grip of political correctness."

The show also featured musical performances by Sandi Patty and Aaron Neville. Mr. Neville's rendition of Gershwin's "Summertime" featured a jazz quartet playing some wonderfully bluesy grooves, and the ceremony closed with all five prize-winners on stage for a rousing
medley of "America the Beautiful" and "God Bless America."

The reception afterwards was equally impressive. Among others, I talked to Michael Barone of U.S. News & World Report, Michelle D. Bernard of the Independent Women's Forum, Elaine Donnelly of the Center for Military Readiness, Robert L. Woodson Sr. of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, Ben Wattenberg of the American Enterprise Institute, David Kirby of the America's Future Foundation, Howard Phillips of the Conservative Caucus, and Matthew Vadum of the Capital Research Center.

-- Robert Stacy McCain, assistant national editor, The Washington Times