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"She is also someone who gives back a great deal to the community." The author's many books include Deenie; Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. In 1986, she sorted through her considerable fan mail and published Letters to Judy: What Your Kids Wish They Could Tell You. While past winners of the honorary award include Arthur Miller, Philip Roth and Eudora Welty, in recent years the medal has gone just as often to writers of genres once disregarded by the literary establishment. Ray Bradbury, the science fiction master, won in 2000. Stephen King, known for his bestselling horror tales, received the prize last year. "Having raised two daughters I can tell you how important the work of Judy Blume is," said Jessica Hagedorn, a foundation board member and author of Dogeaters and several other books. "For young people, she is as literary a writer as you can ask for." Like King, the 66-year-old Blume has enjoyed enormous commercial success. Her books have sold more than 75 million copies and have been translated into more than 20 languages. She also founded the Kids Fund, a charitable and educational foundation, and has served on numerous boards, including the Author's Guild and the National Coalition Against Censorship. However, not all grown-ups have found her work fit for children. Blume is known for dealing explicitly with sex, religion and divorce and her books often have been placed in restricted sections of libraries or pulled altogether from shelves. She responded by editing the compilation Places I Never Meant to Be, Original Stories by Censored Writers, published in 1999. According to the American Library Association, Blume's Forever, the story of a teenage girl's feelings about sex and love, ranked No. 8 on the list of most "challenged" books of the 1990s. The ALA, which on Sept. 25 will mark its annual "Banned Books Week," defines a "challenge" as a formal, written complaint filed (usually by a parent) with a library or school. "Judy Blume has been a champion for intellectual freedom for many, many years," Carol Brey-Casiano, president of the ALA, said. "We think her books are of very high quality and that she raises some important issues."

THE 50th YEAR OF MISS AMERICA

"I remember definitely dressing up," said Hanson, 62, who now lives in Pratt, Kan. "I'd have a towel sash pinned to my shoulder and there was my crown, probably made from a colander or a strainer."

Photo: As the pageant celebrates its golden anniversary on the small screen Saturday at 9 p.m. EDT on ABC, the show is getting its biggest makeover ever in hopes of reclaiming relevance in a world of multiplying entertainment options.

(AP) - She may be Miss America, but for 50 years she's been married to television. The tube was the contest's link from its Atlantic City, N.J., home to millions of heartland living rooms, and it turned the winners into stars. But lately, the relationship has gotten bumpy as ratings dipped and TV executives took more control. "If Miss America ever finds itself unable to be on television, I think it will probably go out of existence," said Leonard Horn, a former Miss America Organization CEO. "I don't think it can survive without television." As the pageant celebrates its golden anniversary on the small screen Saturday at 9 p.m. EDT on ABC, the show is getting its biggest makeover ever in hopes of reclaiming relevance in a world of multiplying entertainment options. The master of ceremonies will be Chris Harrison, normally seen hosting The Bachelor and its sister show, The Bachelorette. The swimsuits will be provided by Speedo - and skimpier than ever. The program has been trimmed from three hours to two, but "off-the-cuff" backstage scenes have been added. And instead of seeing the talent performances of all five finalists, viewers will see only the final two. Acting Miss America CEO Art McMaster disputes the notion that ABC has forced the competition to change, but says that the television show is the essence of Miss America. "We've never shied away from the fact that television is the catalyst that promotes the whole Miss America system," McMaster said. "It shows America what we're all about." Alas, Miss America is no longer what it once was. In the 1950s and early 60s - before cable, satellite dishes and DVDs - the televised pageant was the Super Bowl of its day. Television's money enabled Miss America, first held in 1921, to withstand the feminist backlash of the 1960s. Horn said that's because the pageant's scholarships kept women competing, sometimes despite their political objections. Marie Hanson can testify to the power of those early broadcasts. A former longtime chaperone for Miss Kansas, Hanson met Miss America through TV, while growing up on her family's farm near a little town called Medicine Lodge. "I remember definitely dressing up," said Hanson, 62, who now lives in Pratt, Kan. "I'd have a towel sash pinned to my shoulder and there was my crown, probably made from a colander or a strainer." One of the most famous Miss Americas was the first to be crowned on television: Lee Meriwether, who in 1956 became one of the first women on NBC's Today show and played Catwoman in the 1966 Batman movie. Would she have gotten those breaks without her pageant being on television? "Probably not," she said, "because what it offered was more recognition." Today, the program is not reaching as many young girls - or anyone else - as it once did. Some 27 million viewers saw the first televised Miss America coronation, making it one of the highest-rated moments in the history of television to that date. By 1960, the viewing audience had grown to 85 million.

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