Society of Professional Journalists
Improving and protecting journalism since 1909

SPJ’s Spring Conferences are day-long professional development meetings bringing area journalists, students and journalism educators together in one place to hear from industry experts on a wealth of topics. Get available details — including announced dates, locations and contacts — right here.

March 20-21
Region 4: Athens, Ohio

March 27-28
Region 2: College Park, Md.
Region 5: Lousiville, Ky.
Region 7: Omaha, Neb.

April 10-11
Region 6: Bloomington, Minn.
Region 12: Lake Charles, La.

April 17-18
Region 1: Hampstead, N.Y.
Region 11: San Francisco

April 24-25
Region 9: Denver

EIJ15 Scholarships and Fellowships: Apply today

Terry Harper Memorial Scholarships: Terry Harper passed away in 2009 after a two-year battle with brain cancer. In honor of Terry’s efforts to improve SPJ and the entire journalism community, the Sigma Delta Chi Foundation set up a memorial fund following his death. With a generous outpouring of support, the Society can now proudly provide up to four scholarships to SPJ members to attend its annual convention. Applications due May 12, 2015.

Diversity Leadership Fellows Program: As we face the many challenges of an evolving industry, strengthening SPJ’s diversity efforts is more important than ever. The goal of the Diversity Leadership Fellows program, ultimately, is to increase the diversity participation of SPJ members within national committees and on the national board of directors. As part of the program, we bring fellowship recipients to the convention to begin a year-long immersion and education program. Applications due May 12, 2015.

Robert D.G. Lewis First Amendment Award: From the generosity of the Lewis family, the award is given each year to a student SPJ member who has demonstrated outstanding service to the First Amendment through the field of journalism. The award assists a student with his/her attendance to SPJ's annual convention. Applications due May 12, 2015.

SPJ is seeking 12 interns for the EIJ News. Interns will cover the EIJ15 conference in a variety of ways (video, audio, photos, written stories) that will be displayed online. Collegiate multimedia journalists are invited to apply for these select positions.

This year’s conference is set for September 18-20 in Orlando, Fla. Selected interns will need to arrive in Orlando on Wednesday, Sept. 17 and attend a mandatory 3 p.m. staff meeting. The internship ends Sunday, Sept. 21 at Noon.

Click here for more information and to apply online.

Classrooms & Newsrooms Blog: Latest Entry

Reporters Without Borders has released its annual World Press Freedom Index for this year. The United States has slipped again, ranking #49 out of 180 countries. That puts the U.S. in the lower end of the “Satisfactory Situation” category but perilously close to the “Noticeable Problems” category that begins with Haiti at #53. Reporters Without Borders cited concerns about “judicial harassment” of a New York Times investigative reporter, the lack of a federal shield law to protect American journalists from naming their sources, and more than a dozen reporters who “were arbitrarily arrested during clashes between police and demonstrators” in Ferguson, Missouri. >Continue reading America’s Press Freedom Ranking is Declining

More from Classrooms & Newsrooms:
– America’s Press Freedom Ranking is Declining
– Discussing Violence with our Journalism Students
– Be a Mentor to Journalism Students and Teachers
– Adding Study Abroad to a Journalism Curriculum
– Encourage Students to Tackle Difficult Issues

Welcome to the online version of the SPJ Freelance Community’s guide to freelancing, On Your Own: A Guide to Freelance Journalism.

This new guide, updated with new information for 2015, is available for free to all SPJ members.

(Not an SPJ member? Now you have yet another reason to be one.)

More from SPJ Freelance:
– Visit (and join!) the SPJ Freelance Community
– The Independent Journalist: SPJ’s Freelance Community blog
– On-demand video training for freelancers

First Draft Blog: Latest Entry

Graduation is coming up in a couple of months for many of you. I have no doubt that you’re compiling portfolios and preparing to turn your tassel and bust into the news world with reporter’s notebooks blazing. In addition to finishing up your classes and internships and building relationships with fellow students (your future colleagues and bosses) let me also give you one piece of advice: Don’t wait until graduation to start applying to jobs. Applying for jobs from May through August can best be likened to an episode of “Survivor.” The applicant pool will be flooded and it will be harder to stand out and let your accomplishments shine.   >Continue reading Five job sites you should be using now (and always)

More from First Draft:
– Five job sites you should be using now (and always)
– No More Shaming
– Five websites journalists should bookmark
– Journalists Are Thankful For
– What impressed me about the Ted Scripps Leadership Institute

Net Worked: Latest Entry

A little over 45 years ago, Fred Rogers appeared before the Subcommittee on Communications of the United States Senate. At the time of his testimony, a grant for $20 million for the newly funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting, established in 1967, was in jeopardy, as President Richard Nixon wanted to cut that funding in half. At the heart of Rogers’ testimony was education, and the role television, as it came to prominence during the course of the late 20th century, can have in the role of one’s development. >Continue reading Why public broadcasting is important in the digital age

More from Net Worked:
– Why public broadcasting is important in the digital age
– Should Students Pursue Journalism?
– Embrace the Age of Social Media
– How can the Engaging News Project help journalism?
– A few words on David Carr

SPJ Member Spotlight Blog: Latest Entry

Monica Guzman Monica Guzman, president of the Western Washington Pro Chapter, is SPJ’s Member of the Month for February. Congratulations, Monica, and thanks for all of your hard work! Monica is a technology columnist for The Seattle Times and GeekWire and an ethics columnist for the Columbia Journalism Review. In addition to being board president of the Western Washington chapter, she is vice-chair of the SPJ Ethics Committee and a contributor to the 2013 Poynter book “The New Ethics of Journalism.” Monica was the online reporter for The Seattle Post-Intelligencer when the paper closed in 2009, and continued with the all-digital seattlepi.com before working two years with tech startups. >Continue reading Congratulations to Monica Guzman, SPJ’s Volunteer of the Month

More from SPJ Member Spotlight:
– Congratulations to Monica Guzman, SPJ’s Volunteer of the Month
– Alex Veeneman is SPJ’s volunteer of the month
– Congratulations to Julie Asher, December Volunteer of the Month
– Program ideas that ‘tingle journalists’ toes’
– Congratulations to Pashtana Usufzy, SPJ’s November Volunteer of the Month

The January/February 2015 issue of Quill is now online. Stories include:

– From the President
– When the story IS about you
– Getting Women Into the Game
– Ten with Mike Pesca
– Member Profile: Genevieve Belmaker
– Digital Media Toolbox
– Diversity Toolbox
– Education Toolbox
– Ethics Toolbox
– FOI Toolbox

To see all stories, follow this link.