Announcing the Energy Humanism’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award

Announcing the Energy Humanism’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award

Weekly recognition of the individual who did the most to advance energy humanism that week.

By Stephen Heins, The Word Merchant, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

Criteria for Winning

The winner is the person who most clearly advanced the core principles of energy humanism in the preceding week. Judging emphasizes measurable or highly visible contribution, not volume of commentary.

Primary criteria (in order of weight):

1. Abundance and Reliability – Concrete action or analysis that expands practical energy supply, improves grid reliability, or advances “Best of the Above” (nuclear, natural gas, coal where appropriate, competitive renewables, and emerging firm power).

2. Human Flourishing and Energy Poverty – Work that reduces energy poverty, expands access (especially for women and in developing regions), or demonstrates the human cost of energy scarcity.

3. Truth Over Narrative – Clear, data-driven correction of alarmist claims, flawed modeling, or policy that raises costs without corresponding human benefit.

4. Infrastructure and Capital Formation – Advocacy or achievement that strengthens the physical or financial foundations of energy systems (pipelines, transmission, permitting reform, private investment, or profitable technology).

5. Courage and Independence – Willingness to speak or act against institutional pressure when the evidence points toward abundance and humanism.

Secondary considerations: originality of insight, reach and clarity of communication, and consistency with long-term energy humanist principles. The award is not given for volume of posts, media appearances, or ideological signaling.

Initially, the founder selects the winner. Over time, a simple public tally of reader nominations and votes will determine the weekly recipient.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 18, 2026

Energy Humanist Launches Weekly “Most Valuable Player” Award to Honor Champions of Abundance and Human Flourishing

SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — Independent energy writer and curator Stephen Heins today announced the creation of the Energy Humanism’s Most Valuable Player Award, a weekly recognition of the individual who did the most to advance practical energy abundance, reliability, and human flourishing in the preceding seven days.

“For more than twenty-six years I have argued that the world needs energy plentitude, low cost, and fairness,” Heins said. “We have no shortage of people willing to lecture the rest of us about scarcity and sacrifice. We do have a shortage of public recognition for those who actually expand the energy supply that makes modern life possible. This award is a modest attempt to correct that imbalance.”

The Energy Humanism MVP Award will be announced each week. The winner will receive a formal citation and a graphic plaque that can carry a photograph and a short description of the contribution that earned the honor. Heins will select the initial recipients. A transparent public nomination and voting process will be introduced once the series is established.

Criteria focus on concrete advancement of energy abundance, reduction of energy poverty, defense of reliable infrastructure, and honest analysis that prioritizes human outcomes over narrative. The award is deliberately not limited to any single technology, political affiliation, or professional category.

Heins, who publishes under the name “The Word Merchant,” has curated and published nearly 9,000 energy-related articles and Op-Eds on Substack over the past three years without missing a day. He has written over 70 tributes to some of energy humanism’s most important voices and has written over a 100 energy sanity articles. He has self-funded his work for the last eight years.

A GoFundMe campaign, “Support Stephen’s Energy Mission,” is underway to sustain the research, tributes, and daily curation.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-stephens-energy-mission

“Energy is not an ideology,” Heins said. “It is the foundation of health, prosperity, and freedom. The people who expand that foundation deserve to be noticed.”

Media contact:

Stephen Heins

The Word Merchant

Sheboygan, Wisconsin

920-917-8644 or steve@heins.net