Shining a Light on the First Amendment, Hugh Hefner Foundation Honors Free Speech Fighters

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation is seeking nominations for its 2019 Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards.  The Hugh M. Hefner Awards are given each year to a group of individuals whose work is enhancing First Amendment freedoms and at the same time shining a light on important issues where work is still needed.

Nomination materials can be found here. The deadline for submissions is January 14, 2019.

Christie Hefner, Founder and Chairman of the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards, established the Foundation in 1979 to honor her father's work and commitment to free speech and Americans' First Amendment freedoms.

"40 years ago, we created the Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards to recognize and honor the librarian, the editor of the student newspaper, the whistleblower, the journalist, the filmmaker, the educator, the lawyer, people who, in turn, recognize that standing up for the First Amendment means standing up for the defining values of America," said Christie Hefner. "We are enormously proud of continuing this tradition."

The awards ceremony will be held at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. in late spring 2019. Details about the event will be provided when the winners are announced in February 2019.

Hugh M. Hefner Foundation Judges

Awardees will be chosen by an independent panel of judges. Karen Tumulty, a columnist for The Washington Post and one of this year's distinguished judges said, "'Freedom of expression,' Justice Benjamin Cardozo wrote, is 'the matrix, the indispensable condition of nearly every other form of freedom.'  At times in our history, however, it has also seemed among the most fragile of our rights. So, let us celebrate those who champion the First Amendment, as a reminder that we should never take it for granted."

Karen Tumulty is a columnist and former national political correspondent for The Washington Post who writes frequently on free speech and the First Amendment. She joined The Post in 2010 from Time magazine. During her more than 15 years at Time, Tumulty wrote or co-wrote more than three dozen cover stories. She also held positions with Time as congressional correspondent and White House correspondent. Before joining Time in 1994, Tumulty spent 14 years at the Los Angeles Times, where she reported on Congress, business, energy and economics from Los Angeles, New York and Washington, D.C. Tumulty received the Toner Prize for Excellence in Political Reporting (2014); the National Press Foundation Edwin M. Hood Award for Diplomatic Correspondence (1993); and the Gerald Loeb Award for Distinguished Business and Financial Journalism (1982).

Joining Karen Tumulty as a judge for the 2019 First Amendment Award winners are:

Neal Katyal is the Paul and Patrician Saunders Professor of Law at Georgetown University and a Partner at Hogan Lovells. He previously served as Acting Solicitor General of the United States. He has argued 37 cases before the Supreme Court of the United States with 35 of them in the last nine years. At the age of 48, he argued more Supreme Court cases in U.S. history than any minority attorney, recently breaking the record held by Thurgood Marshall. His numerous distinctions include: the Edmund Randolph Award (U.S. Dept. of Justice); The Litigator of the Year by American Lawyer (2017); Appellate MVP by Law360 (most recently in 2017); winner of Financial Times Innovative Lawyer Awards (both public and private); one of GQ's men of the Year (2017); 40 Most Influential Lawyers of the Last Decade Nationwide by National Law Journal (2010); and 90 Greatest Washington Lawyers Over the Last 30 Years by Legal Times (2008).

Michael B. Keegan is president of People for the American Way and People for the American Way Foundation. An arts and free expression advocate, he created Artists for the American Way to enlist artists' support for the organizations' work. Michael led the creation of PFAW's Latinos Vote! Project, which holds candidates accountable for anti-Latino and anti-immigrant rhetoric. And he spearheaded the launch of the Next Up Victory Fund to help elect diverse leaders under age 40 to state and local offices to help build the bench of progressive leaders across the country. Under Michael's leadership, PFAW Foundation's Young Elected Officials network has grown from under 500 progressive elected officials under the age of 35 to more than 1,200 in all 50 states. Michael has been a long time LGBT activist and was a founding national board member of The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLADD).

About the Hugh M. Hefner Foundation

The Hugh M. Hefner Foundation was established to work on behalf of individual rights in a democratic society.  The primary focus of the foundation is to support organizations that advocate for and defend civil rights and civil liberties with special emphasis on First Amendment rights and rational sex and drug policies. For a complete list of past winners and judges, please visit: hmhfoundation.org/winners-judges.

SOURCE Hugh M. Hefner Foundation

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