Awards

NCTE National Intellectual Freedom Award

2019 Award Winners

Claudette Brassil of Brunswick, ME
Nominated by the Maine Council for English Teachers
Honorable Mention
Martha Hickson of North Hunterdon High School, Annandale, NJ

Award Details

Established in 1997 by NCTE and SLATE—Support for the Learning and Teaching of English—this award is given to individuals, groups, or institutions that merit recognition for advancing the cause of intellectual freedom. A subcommittee of the NCTE Standing Committee Against Censorship selects the recipient(s).

PURPOSE
The purpose of the NCTE National Intellectual Freedom Award is to honor individuals, groups, or institutions that merit recognition for advancing the cause of intellectual freedom. Award categories are (1) a national award and (2) an NCTE affiliate-based award.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE
Any member of the National Council of Teachers of English may make a nomination for the national award by following the specifications below.

FREQUENCY/NUMBER OF AWARDS
One national award will be given each year, with up to two honorable mentions.

AWARD SPECIFICS
The national award winner will receive a plaque from NCTE; honorable mention winners will receive certificates. Awardees will be acknowledged at the NCTE Annual Convention during the NCTE Awards Presentation on Saturday. The winner will receive complimentary convention registration and will be mentioned in appropriate Council publications.

AWARD CRITERIA AND JUDGING
The eligibility criteria for the national NCTE Intellectual Freedom Award are as follows:

• the awardee has shown courage in advancing the cause of intellectual freedom or fighting censorship;
• the awardee can be an educator or noneducator;
• the awardee can be an individual, group, or institution;
• the awardee’s activity can be related to particular recent events (e.g., as in a censorship dispute) or it can be ongoing (e.g., as in leadership demonstrated over a period of years);
• the same awardee may not be named for two years in succession.

The procedural rules for the NCTE National Intellectual Freedom Awards are as follows: description of the activities or events that merited the award must be presented by May 1 in two forms: the Intellectual Freedom Award summary sheet, and concise documentation and/or testimony of not less than one single-spaced page and not more than three double-spaced pages and three pages of attachments.

EXAMPLES

• a nationally syndicated columnist who has taken a stand for intellectual freedom
• an organization that has been active in censorship cases
• a legislator who has opposed censorship legislation
• an author or film producer whose work focused on intellectual freedom

Judges for the national NCTE Intellectual Freedom Award will be members of the Standing Committee Against Censorship.

The permission of the potential awardee must be obtained in advance by the nominator. This specification acknowledges that many who act in defense of intellectual freedom remain under continued scrutiny and pressure. They sometimes choose to avoid public notice which, however supportive, places them under further duress.

Nominations with appropriate documentation must be received at NCTE (affsec@ncte.org) by May 1.