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Engage in SPJ!

As an organization of volunteers, SPJ relies heavily on the expertise, talent, energy, passion and enthusiasm of its roughly 6,000 members. Like most volunteer-driven organizations, you get out of SPJ what you put into SPJ. Here are a number of ways you can engage as a volunteer.

Your local chapter needs you!

Visit the Local Connection section to find contact information for your local chapter officers. At the local level the needs for volunteers are many. Here are just a few:

— Volunteer to make membership calls to new/renewing members
— Offer to sit on a committee
— Find story ideas and get inspired by helping to judge awards competitions from other chapters
— Offer to serve as chapter administrator or treasurer
— Help select students for scholarship awards
— Mentor high school journalists
— Set up partnerships with SPJ student chapters at local colleges
— Organize a job fair for journalism students in your area
— Help SPJ evangelize by being an ambassador in your newsroom
— Offer to plan a program
— Suggest fundraising opportunities
— Be a chapter Webmaster
— Publish the chapter newsletter
— Write chapter press releases
— Run for an open board seat

Regional work can expand your network

SPJ is divided into 12 regions, each comprised of several states and a mix of professional and campus chapters. Work at this level exposes you to journalists in nearby states and gives you a larger platform for impacting the profession.

— Learn valuable skills and meet great people by volunteering for the regional conference
— Find story ideas and get inspired by helping to judge awards competitions from other regions
— Network with journalists from a several-state region at your regional conference or through informal networking opportunities
— Offer to run the Regional Web site
— Share chapter ideas with the rest of the region by serving as regional communication chair
— Consider running for a two-year Regional Director seat (elected at the national convention) on the SPJ National Board of Directors

Jump-start your exposure at the national level

As the largest and most broad-based journalism organization in the country, SPJ is an active voice in the journalism industry. Join the chorus through some of these important opportunities.

— Offer your professional expertise on SPJ’s publication advisory committee
— Participate as a panelist at the annual national convention and journalism conference
— Suggest and plan a program at the national convention and journalism conference
— Offer to be a facilitator at the annual Ted Scripps Leadership Institute in Indianapolis
— Offer to help with advocacy through letter campaigns or annual lawmaker visits in Washington, D.C.
— Help obtain items for the annual Legal Defense Fund Auction and Fundraiser
— Contribute case studies to the Ethics section of SPJ.org
— Participate in national committee work
— Run for SPJ national office