Springfield, IL - The Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission has announced the recipients of its Lincoln Bicentennial grants in commemoration of the upcoming 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth in 1809. Fourteen grants were awarded totaling over $440,000 and included locations in Danville, Champaign, and Mahomet.

"Abraham Lincoln's life and character was shaped in great measure by his time in Illinois," said Senator Michael Frerichs (D-Gifford). "It is our responsibility to keep this history alive through new programs and events made possible by grants such as these."

The Vermilion County Museum Society in Danville will receive $1,500 for an exhibit and handbooks regarding Lincoln's time in Vermilion County. The exhibit will travel to allof the private and public schools and nine libraries in the county.

A grant to public television station WILL-TV in the amount of $40,000 will go towards producing a new series for their 'Prairie Fire' program on the former President's life as a 1850s attorney in the Eighth Judicial District. The Champaign based station will broadcast the programming locally and will also distribute it to a national PBS audience.

Also receiving funding from the Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was the Early American Museum in Mahomet. The museum will use a grant of $9,700 to create a DVD on Lincoln's legal career in Champaign County and east central Illinois which will be available to educators and visitors to the museum. The grant money will also help upgrade the museum's audio-visual equipment that will be used to present the DVD.

The Illinois Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission was created in 2006 to lead Illinois' planning efforts to commemorate the significance of Abraham Lincoln to our state and national history. The commission is made up of elected officials, representatives from select organizations relative to Lincoln, and appointed members from throughout Illinois.