The Society of Illustrators of Los Angeles (SILA) was founded in 1953 by a group of Southern California

Southern California

Southern California is a megaregion, or megapolitan area, in the southern area of the U.S. state of California. Large urban areas include Greater Los Angeles and Greater San Diego. The urban area stretches along the coast from Ventura through the Southland and Inland Empire to San Diego...

 artists and designers "...to promote the professional status of illustration art as well as foster both philanthropic and educational goals".

A scholarship program is provided, and annual awards are presented to illustrators for their works. The top annual award, named after the first president of SILA, is the "Joseph Morgan Henninger

Joseph Morgan Henninger

Joseph Morgan Henninger was an American artist and illustrator. He was born in Elwood, Indiana and died In Pacific Palisades, California....

 Award".

The Society maintains an association with the United States Air Force

United States Air Force

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 (USAF) whereby members may contribute appropriate art to the USAF Art Collection. Contributing artists are flown at government expense to a show of their works and receive awards for their contributions. The artists retain copyright to their works.

The Society supports an active blog

Blog

A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...

to keep members informed (The Illustrators' Blog).