Nackey S. Loeb School names 2022 First Amendment Award honorees

MANCHESTER — Gilles Bissonnette, ACLU-NH’s legal director, is this year's Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications' First Amendment Award honoree, and will be saluted by the school on Thursday, Oct. 20. The annual event honors New Hampshire individuals or groups that have advanced or exercised their First Amendment rights in some special or extraordinary way. Bissonnette was nominated for his work with stakeholders to improve the public’s right of access to information to hold government accountable, including a successful legal effort to reverse a 27-year-old precedent from 1993 that shielded personnel files of government employees, including law enforcement, from public view.

In addition to Bissonnette, New Hampshire Public Radio will be celebrated as recipient of The Nackey S. Loeb School’s Quill & Ink Award, not given annually, but reserved to recognize significant contributions to the First Amendment. NHPR is being honored for continuing to report the news, even as some of its staff were threatened with violence and had their homes vandalized.

The First Amendment Award Event on Oct. 20, 4-5:30 p.m., will feature guest speaker Jonathan Martin, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times, a political analyst for CNN, and the co-author of the recent New York Times best-seller “This Will Not Pass: Trump, Biden and the Battle for America’s Future.” The event is held at the NH Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College.

This event is open to the public, but space is limited, and tickets must be purchased in advance. Tickets are $100 each and will include admission to the event, and a copy of Martin’s book.

The Loeb School’s First Amendment Award judges are Rod Doherty, former executive editor of Foster’s Daily Democrat, retired NH Supreme Court Justice Richard Galway, attorney Gregory Sullivan of Malloy & Sullivan, LPC, and previous First Amendment Award recipient Mary DeWinkeleer.

The event is presented by M&T Bank, and sponsors include keynote speaker sponsor CCA Global Partners and The Brodsky Prize for Excellence in Student Journalism, First Amendment Award sponsor Eversource, book sponsor AT&T, and sunshine sponsor Jay Lucas. Friends of the Nackey S. Loeb School sponsors include Elliot Health System/Solution Health, Jennifer Horn, Spectrum Marketing, Saint Anselm College’s Institute of Politics, and the Union Leader Corporation. Five freedoms sponsors are AARP-NH, Anagnost Companies, Bank of America, The Bernstein Shur Group, Business & Industry Association, Catholic Medical Center, Cross Insurance, Douglas, Leonard & Garvey, P.C., Dumont Communications, Fidelity Investments, The Laconia Daily Sun, Joyce and Dan Levesque, Louis Karno & Company Communications, Merchant’s Fleet, Montagne Powers Communications, NBT Bank, New Hampshire Beverage Association, Northeast Delta Dental, University of New Hampshire, Wash Street, Wieczorek Insurance and WIPFLI. Sponsorship opportunities are still available. 

For more information, visit loebschool.org.