First Place for the First

The Illinois First Amendment Center, an MF grantee since its origins in 2001, is taking home a highly-coveted First Amendment Award from the Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ). The award recognizes individuals and groups for "extraordinarily strong efforts to preserve and strengthen the First Amendment . " SPJ will also honor former USA Today reporter Toni Locy , who has refused to reveal her sources from stories in a 2002 anthrax case.

IFAC works to educate young people about the need to understand, preserve and protect the First Amendment. What started as a modest effort housed at the Illinois Press Foundation has grown into a booming non-profit organization, providing free curriculum, posters, videos and other materials to thousands of K-12 teachers across the country. It recently began offering its materials in Spanish as well. The Center works closely with newspapers to promote its materials and host an annual conference.

IFAC will pick up the honor at SPJ's annual convention, to be held Sept. 6 in Atlanta. For more, visit: http://www.spj.org/news.asp?REF=819#819