Morgan Bricker, MJE, adviser at Weir High School in Weirton, West Virginia, is this year’s winner of the Candace and John Bowen Adviser First Amendment Leadership Award. This annual award recognizes a JEA member whose work has actively supported, defended and fought for student journalists and their advisers on the local, state or national level. The award is endowed by Candace Perkins Bowen, MJE, John Bowen, MJE, and Tom Eveslage, all long-time student press rights crusaders.

Bricker is JEA’s West Virginia state director and a member of the Scholastic Press Rights Committee, overseeing monthly blogs on the JEA website. A major commitment of Bricker’s was passing the New Voices bill in West Virginia, 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 Kellen Hoard’s support letter.

A first-year student at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and a corecipient of the Student Press Law Center’s 2022 High School Courage in Student Journalism award, Hoard worked with the SPLC and Bricker. He noted she helped coordinate traditionally disengaged groups in the state, rebuilt the state’s adviser group, and activated her students to become effective and intelligent legislative advocates.

“As any educator knows, getting students to do difficult, nonacademic 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. He said policymakers in West Virginia praised students for their advocacy, and it was her 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. She connected teachers from across the state, assisting them with strategy development, providing 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

But, according to Sandy York, assistant professor and media adviser at West Virginia’s Marshall University, “Morgan’s work didn’t stop there; 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.”