WEIRTON — Morgan Bricker, adviser of the Journalism Education Association at Weir High School, is this year’s winner of the Candace and John Bowen Adviser First Amendment Leadership Award. The annual award recognizes a member whose work has actively supported, defended and fought for student journalists and their advisers on the local, state or national level.

Endowed by long-time student press rights crusaders Candace Perkins Bowen, John Bowen and Tom Eveslage, the award was presented to Bricker, the JEA’s West Virginia state director and member of the Scholastic Press Rights Committee who oversees monthly blogs on the JEA website.

A major commitment of Bricker’s was passing the New Voices Bill in West Virginia — which was no small accomplishment in a state that defeated the bill once and “had previously been quite resistant to the advancement of such legislation,” according to a support letter written by Kellen Hoard.

“As any educator knows, getting students to do difficult, non-academic work is a challenge in itself — and getting Gen Z to pick up the phone to make a call to a stranger is nigh impossible — but Morgan made that, and much more, happen,” Hoard wrote, saying policymakers in West Virginia praised students for their advocacy, and it was Bricker’s work with them that enabled that to happen.

Bricker’s goal to rebuild the West Virginia Scholastic Media Association was another step in her process, connecting teachers from across the state and assisting them with strategy development and providing them with contact lists and message templates.

All this led to the March 2023 passage of the Student Journalist Press Freedom Protection Act, making West Virginia the 17th state with such a law.

According to Sandy York, assistant professor and media adviser at West Virginia’s Marshall University, there was a lot more Bricker did for the state.

“Morgan’s work didn’t stop there,” York stated. “She set a goal to ensure all 55 counties in the state updated their board of education policies to reflect the passage of Senate Bill 121.”

Bricker’s nominator, Peter Bobkowski of Kent State, wrote, “Ms. Bricker embodies the principles this award seeks to reward: Courage, persistence, thoughtful leadership and a profound belief in the necessity of free student expression. Her contributions have changed the legal landscape for every student journalist in West Virginia and have inspired advocates nationwide.”

Bricker expressed her appreciation for the award.

“I am so honored to receive this award and thankful to the Journalism Education Association for the recognition,” Bricker commented. “My journalism teaching and advising career started with Candace and John Bowen, who were my first professors in my journalism education master’s degree program at Kent State University, and later colleagues in the Ohio Scholastic Media Association, so that makes it even more meaningful.”

“All our work to pass West Virginia’s New Voices law in 2023 and to establish the statewide Scholastic Media Association mentioned in the article, has been a huge team effort across the state,” Bricker continued. “So many college and high school advisers and students have worked together to make that happen with help from the Student Press Law Center and Kellen Hoard, whose advocacy has been invaluable through that process. I’m proud to have been a part of it and to continue working on the initiative to ensure student press freedom — not just in our state but in every state. Current events show us just how important a free and independent press is to democracy, and that starts with student journalists in our classrooms.”