The PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award recognizes ordinary people who take extraordinary stands to defend the First Amendment in the United States. The award, which  honors a United States citizen or resident who has fought courageously to safeguard the First Amendment’s right to freedom of expression as it applies to the written word, includes a $10,000 cash prize and is conferred annually before an audience of America’s most distinguished writers at the PEN Gala in New York. The award is sponsored by Katherine Anne Porter Foundation, a fitting tribute to the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s steadfast support for the freedom to write.

The PEN/Katherine Anne Porter First Amendment Award succeeds the PEN/Newman’s Own First Amendment Award, which honored First Amendment heroes from 1993 to 2006.

The PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award is a powerful tool in PEN American Center's year-round efforts to end the persecution of individual writers. The award is designed to honor writers who have fought courageously in the face of adversity for the right to freedom of expression. Established in 1987, and underwritten by PEN member Barbara Goldsmith, the award has been granted to a total of 44 writers who have either used the money to set up new and innovative projects to further their work against censorship or to writers who have been in dire financial straits as a result of political persecution, often consisting of imprisonment.