The Clock honored with Loeb School Quill & Ink Award for First Amendment Defense

Editorial Board of The Clock

10/24/24

The Clock was celebrated October 24 as the first student newspaper to receive the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications’s Quill & Ink Award. This award is not given annually, but instead is reserved to honor significant contributions to the First Amendment. The award recognizes The Clock’s coverage of the Plymouth State’s Student Senate’s numerous attempts to shut down free, fair, and transparent coverage of their meetings.

Editor-in-Chief Kay Bailey and News Editor James Kelly were joined by former Editor-in-Chief Jacob Downey ‘24 to receive the award.

“If at any point [PSSS] had any shred of integrity, Plymouth would be a better place and The Clock wouldn’t have a big bronze eagle on its desk” said Downey. “This [award] is a testament to the quality of The Clock’s reporting and the importance of supporting a robust student press.”

“We did this all on our own time. We are volunteer-based, unpaid student journalists doing this because it matters” said Bailey. “Because it’s necessary,” added Kelly.

Harrison Thorp of the Rochester Voice and state representative Arlene Quaratiello were also honored for their respective commitments to the First Amendment.

The event was closed by a Q&A with the incoming and outgoing CEOs of C-SPAN, Sam Feist and Susan Swain, respectively, moderated by Loeb School President Joseph McQuaid.