PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award

The PEN/Newman's Own First Amendment Award was presented each spring to a U.S. resident who has fought courageously, despite adversity, to safeguard the First Amendment right to freedom of expression as it applies to the written word. Sponsored by PEN American Center and Newman's Own, a cash prize of $20,000 was awarded. The award ended in 2006 and was succeeded by the PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award.

Recipients

2008 - C. Clark Kissinger

2006 - Sibel Edmonds

2005 - Joan Airoldi - a librarian and library director in rural Washington State who challenged an FBI effort to search patron records under the Library Awareness Program.

2004 - Barbara Parsons Lane, one of eight incarcerated writers who were sued by the State of Connecticut after contributing to Couldn't Keep It To Myself: Testimonies from our Imprisoned Sisters, a moving anthology of stories and essays by women who participated in a creative writing workshop led by Wally Lamb at York Correctional Institute.

2003 - Jerilynn Adams Williams a Texas librarian who successfully turned back an attempt to remove books from circulation at Montgomery County public libraries.

2002 - Vanessa Leggett, freelance writer who was jailed in a federal detention center in Texas for 168 days for refusing to bow to a sweeping subpoena of confidential source materials.

2001 - Deloris Wilson, high school librarian in West Monroe, Louisiana who fought to preserve access to library materials banned for sexual content.

- Alberto...... ...

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