The winners of the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award and the SIRS/ProQuest State and Regional Achievement Award were announced in ALA News Tuesday.

Alanna Natanson and Kam MacPherson, both of Takoma Park, Maryland, have been awarded the John Phillip Immroth Award, which honors commitment to the ideals of intellectual freedom. Natanson founded the “Banned Books Club,” a reading group sponsored by the Takoma Park Maryland Library that is devoted to reading books that have been targeted by censors. MacPherson, the youth and children services librarian, leads the discussions. The group has already read “The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Read more about Alanna Natanson, Kam MacPherson, and the “Banned Books Club” here.

“Celebrate the Freedom to Read,” a coalition made up of the Oregon Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee, the Oregon School Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee, and the Oregon ACLU has been awarded the 2009 SIRS/ProQuest State and Regional Achievement Award. The group’s campaign to increase participation in Banned Books Week state-wide has been a rousing success: in 2008, 31 of the 36 counties in Oregon were home to a variety of Banned Books Week celebrations, hosted at schools, public libraries and academic libraries. Read more about the coalition and their success here.

Attendees of ALA’s Annual Conference in July are invited to join us for a reception in honor of the award winners. The reception is on Friday, July 10th, at 12:30pm, in the Pullman Room of the Hyatt Regency McCormick.