The ALA’s Intellectual Freedom Round Table has announced that, beginning in 2022, the Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award will be given annually. The award will now honor journal articles in even number years (2022, 2024...) and books in odd number years (2023, 2025...). The Oboler committee is now seeking nominations for the 2022 journal article award.
The Oboler 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 article may be stand-alone or a series of thematically connected articles published on the local, state, or national level in English or English translation.
The articles submitted for the 2022 award should be dated either 2020 or 2021. Submission deadline is December 1. The award is $500 and a certificate and is presented at the ALA Annual Conference each year.
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 was given first at the 1986 Annual Conference in New York.
For more information on criteria of the award, past recipients or to submit a nomination please visit the Eli M. Oboler Memorial Award website.
