The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Award is an award created in honor of Playboy founder Hugh Hefner. The Hugh M. Hefner First Amendment Awards were established by Christie Hefner in 1979 to honor individuals who have made significant contributions in the vital effort to protect and enhance First Amendment rights for Americans. Since the inception of the awards, more than 100 individuals including high school students, lawyers, librarians, journalists and educators have been honored.
Nominees have traditionally come from the areas of journalism, arts and entertainment, education, publishing, law, and government, and winners are selected by a panel of distinguished judges.
Recipients
1980
Nat Hentoff – Book Publishing Erwin Knoll and Howard Morland – Journalism Saul Landau and Jack Willis – Journalism David Goldberger – Law Louis Clark – Government Carey McWilliams – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Tom Bradley, Mayor of Los Angeles; Jules Feiffer, playwright and social cartoonist; Fay Kanin, president, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Victor Navasky, editor, The Nation; and Tom Wicker, columnist and associate editor, The New York Times.
1981
Frank Rowe – Book Publishing Todd Crowder, Charles Reineke and William Hoffmann Jr. – Journalism Edward Asner, Allan Burns, Seth Freeman, and Gene Reynolds – Arts and Entertainment William Schannen III – Law Morton Halperin – Government Kathy Russell – Education Stanley Fleishman – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Edward Brooke, US Senator, Massachusetts; Nat Hentoff, author and columnist, The Village Voice; Fay Kanin, president, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences; Judith Krug, director, The American Library Association; and Charles Nesson, Dean, Harvard Law School.
1982
Franklyn S. Haiman – Book Publishing Gene D. Lanier – Education Billie Pirner Garde – Government Frank Snepp – Individual Conscience Steven Pico – Law Robert Berger, Herbert Brodkin, Ernest Kinoy and Herbert Wise – Arts and Entertainment Melody Sands – Journalism Frank J. Donner – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Yvonne Braithwaite Burke, partner, Kutak, Rode & Huie; Hamilton Fish III, Publisher, The Nation; Florence McMullin, Chair, The Washington Library Association Intellectual Freedom Committee; and Aryeh Neier, Professor of Law, New York University.
1983
Tom Gish and Pat Gish – Outstanding Community Leadership Mark Lynch – Outstanding National Leadership Osmond K. Fraenkel – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Harriet Pilpel, attorney, Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Studs Terkel, author and nationally syndicated radio show host; and William Worthy, international journalist and civil liberties activist.
1984
Helen Troy and Forest Troy – Outstanding Community Leadership Agnus Mackenzie – Outstanding National Leadership Frank Wilkinson – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Martin Agronsky, Agronsky and Company; Alan Dershowitz, professor, Harvard Law School; and Liza Pike, Program Director, Center for Investigative Reporting.
1985
Clifford McKenzie – Government Jack C. Landau – Education Ronnie Dugger – Journalism
The judges were Burton Joseph, attorney, Barsy, Joseph & Lichtenstein; Harriet Pilpel, attorney, Weil, Gotshal & Manges; and Melody Sands, former owner of The Athens News.
1986-1987
Barry Lynn – Government Glenna Nowell – Education Walter Karp – Book Publishing Charles Levendosky – Journalism William A. Bradford, Jr., Ricki Seidman, and Mary Weidler – Law
The judges were Julius L. Chambers, president, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund; Maxwell Lillienstein, General Counsel, American Booksellers Association; and Anthony Podesta, founding president, People for the American Way.
1988
Jamie Kalven – Book Publishing Herbert Foerstel – Education Rex Armstrong – Law Eric Robert Glitzenstein – Government David Arnett – Journalism Roy Woodruff – Individual Conscience
The judges were Charlayne Hunter-Gault, New York correspondent, The MacNeil / Lehrer NewsHour; Anthony Lewis, syndicated columnist, The New York Times; Steven Pico, First Amendment lecturer and advocate; and Tom Wicker, political columnist, The New York Times.
1989
Eve Pell – Journalism James A. Haught – Journalism Thomas Michael Devine – Government Joann Bell – Law John Henry Faulk – Individual Conscience Louis Ingelhart – Education Anthony Lewis – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Judith Krug, director, the American Library Association for Intellectual Freedom; Jack K. Landau, attorney and columnist, Newhouse Newspapers; Clarence Page, Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, Chicago Tribune; and Harriet Pilpel, attorney, Weil, Gotshal & Manges.
1990
Paul Conrad – Journalism Marilyn Athmann – Education Danny Goldberg – Arts and Entertainment Hans A. Linde – Law Dennis Barrie – Individual Conscience Studs Terkel – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Herbert N. Foerstel, Head of Branch Libraries, University of Maryland; Robert Scheer, national correspondent, Los Angeles Times; and Maxine Waters, US Representative, California.
1991
Allan Adler – Book Publishing Inez Austin – Individual Conscience Traci Bauer – Law James Dana – Education Bella Lewitzky – Arts and Entertainment Debbie Nathan – Journalism Sydney Schanberg – Government
The judges were Arthur Kropp, president, People for the American Way; Barry Lynn, Co-host, Battleline news radio talk show; Eve Pell, investigative journalist, Freedom of Information Project; and Tom Wicker, political columnist, The New York Times.
1992
Jules Feiffer – Individual Conscience Bruce Rogow – Law Natalie Robins – Book Publishing Carl Jensen – Education Dannie Martin – Journalism Peter Sussman – Journalism
The judges were Dennis Barrie, executive director, Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati; Norman Dorsen, Stokes Professor of Law, New York University Law School; Mark Goodman, executive director, Student Press Law Center; Barbara Kopple, documentary filmmaker; and Reginald Stuart, Assistant News Editor, Knight-Ridder Newspapers.
1993-1994
Anthony Griffin – Law Robert Landauer – Print Journalism Jeff Cohen and Norman Solomon – Book Publishing Carole Marlowe – Education Jim Warren – Government Jean Otto – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Rex Armstrong, Attorney and Volunteer Counsel, ACLU of Oregon; Jessica Mitford, author and social activist; and Carl Jensen, Founder, Project Censored.
1995-1996
Jeffrey DeBonis – Government Joycelyn Chadwick-Joshua – Education Seth Rosenfeld – Print Journalism Mary Morello – Arts and Entertainment Tom Hull – Law Morton Mintz – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Chris Finan, executive director, The Media Coalition; Marjorie Heins, Director and Staff Counsel, ACLU Arts Censorship Project; and Sydney Schanberg, journalist.
1997
Dr. Frederic Whitehurst – Government Kelli Peterson – Individual Conscience Katharine Swan – Journalism Cecile Richards – Education American Civil Liberties Union – Law American Library Association – Law
The judges were Anthony Griffin, attorney; Bobby Handman, president, People for the American Way; and Burton Joseph, attorney, Barsy, Joseph & Lichtenstein.
1998
Lee Brawner – Education Tisha Byars – Individual Conscience Goodloe Sutton and Jean Sutton – Journalism
The judges were Nadine Strossen, president, ACLU; Peter S. Prichard, president, Freedom Forum; and Ann K. Symons, president, American Library Association.
1999
Michael Moore – Arts and Entertainment Eugenie C. Scott – Education Nicholas Becker – Individual Conscience Jeri McGiverin & Elaine Williamson – Law Donald Parker – Lifetime Achievement Bruce Sanford – Book Publishing
The judges were Mark Goodman, executive director, Student Press Law Center; Molly Ivins, author and columnist, Creators Syndicate; Barbara Kopple, filmmaker; and Clarence Page, columnist, Chicago Tribune.
2000-2001
Michael Kent Curtis – Book Publishing Mary Dana – Education Nancy Zennie – Education William M. Lawbaugh – Print Journalism James Wheaton – Law John Seigenthaler - Lifetime Achievement Penn & Teller – Arts and Entertainment
The judges were Floyd Abrams, partner, Cahill Gordon & Reindel; Lucy Dalglish; executive director, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press; Robert M. O'Neil, director, Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression; and Nadine Strossen, president, ACLU.
2002-2003
Trina Magi and Linda Ramsdell – Education Ronald K. L. Collins and David Michael Skover – Book Publishing David Cole – Book Publishing Nate Blakeslee – Law Steven Aftergood – Government Talia Buford – Print Journalism Bill Maher – Arts and Entertainment Molly Ivins – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Margaret Carlson, CNN's The Capital Gang and Time Magazine columnist; Ann Richards, former governor of Texas; and John Seigenthaler, Founder, First Amendment Center.
2006
Paisley Dodds – Print Journalism Patricia Princehouse – Education Geoffrey R. Stone – Book Publishing Jack Spadaro – Government Shelby Knox, Marion Lipschutz, and Rose Rosenblatt – Arts and Entertainment Rhett Jackson – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Katrina vanden Heuvel, editor and publisher, The Nation; Anthony D. Romero, executive director, American Civil Liberties Union; and Eugenie Scott, executive director, National Center for Science Education.
2008
Greg Lukianoff – Freedom of Expression Heather Gillman – Law Mark Klein – Government
The judges were Nadine Strossen, president, American Civil Liberties Union and professor of law, New York Law School; Geoffrey Stone, Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor at University of Chicago Law School; and David Rubin, professor and former dean, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University.
2012
Rebecca MacKinnon – Book Publishing Pablo Alvarado – Law Thomas Drake – Government Jesselyn Radack – Government Zack Kopplin – Education Stanley K. Sheinbaum – Lifetime Achievement
The judges were Hector Villagra; Patricia Schroeder; Robert Scheer; and Norman Lear.
2013
Morris Davis – Government Jessica Ahlquist – Education Norman Lear – Lifetime Achievement Marjorie Heins for her book Priests of Our Democracy: The Supreme Court, Academic Freedom, and the Anti-Communist Purge.
The judges were Henry Weinstein from the University of California, Ramona Ripston and Dr. Charles C. Haynes, Director of the Religious Freedom Education Project.
2014
Muneer Awad – Government Glenn Greenwald – Journalism Norman Dorsen – Lifetime Achievement Thomas Healy – Book Publishing Michael Hiestand and Mary Beth Tinker – For organizing the Tinker Tour Chris Finan – Law
The judges were Margaret Carlson, Laura W. Murphy Director if the ACLU's Washington Legislative Office, and Joan E. Bertin Executive Director of National Coalition Against Censorship.
2015
Steve Listopad – Education Malkia Cyril – Government Zephyr Teachout – Book Publishing James Risen – Print Journalism Victor Navasky – Lifetime Achievement
2017
Burt Neuborne – Lifetime Achievement Hasan Elahi – Arts & Entertainment Timothy Garton Ash – Book Publishing Jenni Monet – Print Journalism
The judges were Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean and Professor of Law, University of California Berkeley School of Law; Lara Bergthold, Principal Partner at RALLY; and Davan Maharaj, editor-in-chief and Publisher of the Los Angeles Times Media Group.
2018
Joan E. Bertin – Lifetime Achievement Simon Tam – Arts & Entertainment Laura Kipnis – Book Publishing Allison Stanger – Education Jamie Kalevn – Journalism
The judges were Michael A. Bamberger, Author and Senior Counsel at Dentons; Shelby Coffey III, Journalist; and Zephyr Teachout, Political Activist and Professor at Fordham University School of Law.
2019 Floyd Abrams – Lifetime Achievement Christian Bales – Education Theodore J. Boutrous – Law Grace Marion – Journalism George Luber – Government Greg Lukianoff, Jonathan Haidt – Book Publishing