IFRT Seeks Nominations for the 2026 Intellectual Freedom Awards

CHICAGO—The Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) is now accepting nominations for its prestigious awards recognizing individuals and organizations that have supported intellectual freedom: the Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award, the Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Chapter Relations Award, and the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award.

Each award includes a certificate of recognition and cash prize. The recipients for all of the awards will be announced in advance of ALA Annual Conference 2026, where they will also be recognized during IFRT programs and events.

Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award

The Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award honors a literary work or series of works in the area of intellectual freedom. This can include matters of ethical, political, or social concerns related to intellectual freedom. The award recognizes journal articles in even number years and honors books in odd number years. For 2026, the Oboler will be awarded to an outstanding journal article.

The award was named for Eli M. Oboler, the extensively published Idaho State University librarian known as a champion of intellectual freedom who demanded the dismantling of all barriers to freedom of expression. The award, first offered biennially in 1986, has been awarded annually since 2022.

Articles for 2026 award consideration should have been published on the local, state, or national level in English or English translation in the 2024 or 2025 calendar years, through the end of December 2025.

The award consists of a certificate of recognition and $500 cash award. For more information on criteria of the award, past recipients, or to submit a nomination please visit the Oboler Award website at https://www.ala.org/rt/ifrt/oboler

The deadline for nominations is January 30, 2026.

Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Chapter Relations Award

The Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Chapter Relations Award recognizes an intellectual freedom-focused organization that has developed a strong multi-year, ongoing program or a single, one-year project that exemplifies support for intellectual freedom, patron confidentiality and anti-censorship efforts.

The award is named after Gerald Hodges, who joined the ALA staff in 1989 as director of membership services and the Chapter Relations Office. Hodges was the associate director of communications and marketing at his death in 2006, but intellectual freedom and chapter relations were still his passions. A charter member of the ALA Legacy Society, he willed a portion of his estate to support ALA's intellectual freedom efforts. Memorial contributions in recognition of Hodges came from many friends, colleagues and ALA chapters following the establishment of the Gerald Hodges Fund.

This award consists of a citation and $1,000 cash award. For more on criteria of the award, past recipients, or to submit a nomination for the Hodges Award, please visit https://www.ala.org/ifrt/hodges

The deadline for nominations is February 1, 2026.

John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award

The John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award honors notable contributions to intellectual freedom and demonstrations of personal courage in defense of freedom of expression.

John Phillip Immroth was a teacher, author, scholar, advocate, and defender of First Amendment rights. He was the founder and first chair of the Intellectual Freedom Round Table in 1973. Established upon Immroth’s death in 1979, the award honors the courage, dedication, and contribution of a living individual, group, or organization that has set the finest kind of example for the defense and furtherance of the principles of intellectual freedom.

The award consists of a certificate of recognition and $500 cash award. For more on criteria of the award, past recipients, or to submit a nomination (self-nominations are accepted), please visit the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award page at https://www.ala.org/ifrt/immroth

The deadline for submitting a nomination is March 1, 2026.

About the Intellectual Freedom Round Table

The Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) provides a forum for the discussion of activities, programs and problems in intellectual freedom of libraries and librarians; serves as a channel of communications on intellectual freedom matters; promotes a greater opportunity for involvement among the members of the ALA in defense of intellectual freedom; promotes a greater feeling of responsibility in the implementation of ALA policies on intellectual freedom. For more information, visit www.ala.org/rt/ifrt