The winners of the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award were announced in ALA News Tuesday.

Mike Blasenstein and Mike Iacovone have been named recipients of the John Phillip Immroth Memorial Award, presented by the American Library Association (ALA) Intellectual Freedom Round Table (IFRT).
The Immroth Award honors intellectual freedom fighters in and outside the library profession who have demonstrated remarkable personal courage in resisting censorship. The award consists of $500 and a citation.

The Immroth Award Committee recognizes the two for providing access to the banned video, David Wojnarowicz’s “Fire in My Belly,” in a high profile incident of censorship at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. After the Smithsonian Institution bowed to pressure to remove the artwork from the Hide/Seek exhibit, Blasenstein and Iacovone undertook their first act to preserve intellectual freedom by reintroducing the censored art into the gallery from which it was removed.

David Hurley, Chair of the Immroth Committee, reveals why Blasenstein and Iacovone were chosen: “What really impressed the committee about their actions was that it both restored access to the work that had been removed, for the duration of the National Portrait Gallery’s exhibit, while also drawing attention to the larger problem of the way in which it was removed.”

Attendees of ALA’s Annual Conference in June are invited to join us for a reception in honor of the award winners. The reception is on Saturday, June 25th, at 11:30am, in the Blaine Kern B room of the New Orleans Marriott at the Convention Center.