The Scripps Howard First Amendment Center is again seeking nominations for its annual James Madison Award. The award, created in 2006, honors the extraordinary efforts of the man who worked diligently for the passage of the Bill of Rights, which includes the guarantee of freedom of speech and of the press.
Director of the center is Northern Kentucky’s Mike Farrell, former managing editor of The Kentucky Post and co-founder/special projects editor of the Northern Kentucky Tribune.
Farrell says nominees should be someone with significant Kentucky ties who champions the values of the First Amendment and transparent government. Nominees are not limited to journalists. Educators, librarians, lawyers, judges, community leaders, students, legislators and government workers who have taken stands or action related to freedom of expression are eligible.
The Madison Award recognizes someone who has made a contribution in one or more of these areas: open government and open records; promotion of the watchdog role of the press; defense against government or private censorship; or robust debate in the marketplace of ideas.
Efforts of the nominees must have resulted in the preservation or expansion of freedom of the press and/or freedom of speech. Dedication to the First Amendment principle of free expression is not accomplished in a day’s work but rather a lifetime. Thus the award recognizes a longterm commitment to such ideals.
The deadline for nominations is midnight Friday, Sept. 9. The Scripps Howard First Amendment Center is part of the School of Journalism and Telecommunications in the College of Communication and Information at the University of Kentucky.
The nominator should submit a letter identifying the nominee, listing the nominee’s address, phone number and position, and explaining why the nominee would be a worthy recipient. The letter should detail the specific efforts taken on behalf of First Amendment rights and should discuss obstacles and difficulties as well as the impact of the nominee’s efforts. The nominator may include up to three letters of support as well as other materials, such as published or broadcast information.
Entries will be reviewed by a committee that will include previous winners and the director of the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center. The committee will have the option of not selecting a recipient. Nominees who meet the award criteria but are not selected initially will automatically be considered for two more years. The award will be presented at the annual First Amendment Celebration on Sept. 29, in the William T. Young Library UK Athletics Auditorium on the University of Kentucky campus.
Tom Loftus and Al Cross have both been recipients of the Madison Award.
Past winners were Judith Clabes, editor of the NKyTribune, and founder of UK’s First Amendment Center and a strong supporter of a free press as a newspaper editor and CEO of the Scripps Howard Foundation; Jon Fleischaker, the Commonwealth’s foremost media law attorney; veteran Courier-Journal reporter Tom Loftus, who has used public records extensively to expose government corruption; David Hawpe, retired Courier-Journal reporter and editor who fought relentlessly to open records and meetings; John Nelson, retired managing editor of The Advocate-Messenger in Danville and executive editor of Advocate Communications Inc., who was recognized for, among other activities, organizing a statewide open records audit; veteran newsman Al Smith, whose KET public affairs program, “Comment on Kentucky,” informed the state’s citizens on government issues affecting them; retired media law attorney Kim Greene, who fought many battles for open government for media clients she represented; Jennifer P. Brown, who as a journalist fought a number of open government battles and created a culture of watchdog journalism at the Kentucky New Era; Steve Lowery, who helped update the Kentucky open records and open meetings laws and as president of the Kentucky Press Association developed the Legal Defense Fund to help smaller newspapers in their efforts to seek greater access to government; and Al Cross, a former political reporter for the Courier-Journal known for insisting on government transparency and now teaching students to use sunshine laws as the director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues at the University of Kentucky.
Nominations should be sent to Mike Farrell, Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, School of Journalism and Telecommunications, 220 Grehan Building, Lexington, KY 40506-0042, or emailed to farrell@uky.edu.
For more information, contact Mike Farrell, director of the Scripps Howard First Amendment Center, at 859-257-4848 or farrell@uky.edu.
