2001
Ron Franscell
Campbell County Library
Gillette, Wyoming

"The best part about receiving this honor -- and it is a tremendous honor -- is that it validates all efforts to guarantee intellectual freedom, especially at the community level. We've all been asked to be patient and persistent as we begin a new war against terror in the world. We've been asked to resume life as normal as we can make it. Please encourage and support intellectual freedom efforts in your towns because they can be difficult, protracted wars of a different kind, and might be as important to normal life as anything you can do."

2000
Bruce Moats
Cheyenne, WY

"The freedom to express and explore ideas, without a censor dictating what is good or bad for us, was a revolutionary principle that has served this country well. We cannot take this vital freedom for granted, as many professing good intentions strive to limit it. I am honored to be recognized for the small role I play in preserving intellectual freedom."

1999
Charles Levendosky
Casper Star-Tribune
Casper, WY

"I am very proud to be the recipient of this great honor, especially since I can recall when the Social Issues Resource Series first came out and the controversy that followed. That series was important to high school education and to dealing with socially significant issues. The SIRS Intellectual Freedom Award was born in that controversy. And that gives special meaning to the award.

I'm also especially grateful to have been nominated for the award by the Wyoming Library Association. Librarians and teachers have, in recent years, come to be on the front lines of First Amendment battles all over this nation. If, in my small way, I have supported these good people in their free speech/freedom to read battles, I am glad. I appreciate the nomination from a group that understands, first-hand, the gritty issues involved in these battles. "