Chief Justice Thomas L. Kilbride of the Illinois Supreme Court will be honored as the recipient of the 2012 Illinoisan of the Year award from the Illinois News Broadcasters Association (INBA) during its annual Fall 2012 Convention to be held September 22 and 23 in St. Louis, Missouri.
The honor is being made in recognition of Chief Justice Kilbride’s several efforts to improve the efficiency of Illinois courts, initiating a pilot program to allow cameras in Illinois courts and increasing access to the courts for citizens.
"Chief Justice Kilbride was unanimously selected as our honoree for 2012," said Jim Gee, immediate past president of the INBA. "In addition to his work in creating a pilot program to allow cameras and microphones in Illinois trial courts, we are honoring Chief Justice Kilbride for his overall support of openness in government, including his advocacy for a commission to examine ways in which the courts can be made more accessible to the public."
The roster of previous awardees includes former Illinois Governors Jim Edgar and James Thompson; Mike Lawrence, former director of the Paul Simon Policy Institute; NBC News Anchor John Chancellor; former U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald; and the late Illinois Supreme Court Justice Seymour Simon.