Call for nominations for the Gerald Hodges IF Chapter Relations Award

CHICAGO — 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 consists of $1,000 and a citation.

Sponsor and Deadline

The Gerald Hodges Intellectual Freedom Chapter Relations Award is underwritten by the Gerald Hodges Fund and sponsored by the Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT) of the American Library Association (ALA). The deadline for nominations is Dec. 1 of each year. The deadline for 2013 has been extended to Jan. 1, 2014.

History

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.

Nominations

The Hodges nomination form is available online.

Nominations and supporting evidence should be sent to: Shumeca Pickett, ALA, 50 E. Huron St., Chicago, IL 60611. Telephone: 312-280-4220 or 800-545-2433, ext. 4220. Fax: 312-280-4227. Email: spickett@ala.org