National Conventions

You’re Invited to Get Involved!

Twice a year, the Journalism Education Association and the National Scholastic Press Association co-sponsor the National High School Journalism Convention, attracting thousands of advisers and students from around the world to learn and compete. Learn more here.

Play an important role in hosting SEATTLE’s national journalism event in 2021!

WJEA has a fine tradition of serving up great convention experiences for the rest of the country, as evidenced by the outstanding events we presented in 1990, 1998, and 2005, 2012 and 2017.

But just as it takes a village to raise a child, it takes our ENTIRE organization to put on this massive event. It will be held at the Washington State Convention Center and the Seattle Sheraton Hotel, April 8–10, 2021.

Eventually, there will be a role for EVERY ONE of our members to play, including bringing to the convention as many of your publication staff members as possible, but for the moment the most pressing need is to establish our local committee of 20–30 COMMITTED leaders.

For example, below are the kinds of positions we staffed in previous conventions. This list is illustrative, but not definitive. Some of these jobs might change, there may be more job positions added as we go, and we can happily do job-sharing with more than one WJEA member working together on a task. And don’t worry—you needn’t live in the Seattle area to be involved. Almost all of the tasks can be completed with email, Internet, and cell phone from wherever you live.

Examples of Convention Jobs

* 1. Finding Keynote Speakers
* 2. Creating Featured Topic Sessions and finding speakers for them
* 3. Organizing Write Off Contests
* 4. Recruiting Write Off judges
* 5. Promoting the convention on JEAHELP
* 6. Organizing the Curriculum Exchange
* 7. Finding musical performers for receptions, luncheons, and contests
* 8. Organizing the Swap Shop of student publications
* 9. Managing a WJEA T-shirt Fundraiser: design shirt, produce shirt, sell shirt
* 10. Promoting, screening, and awarding Student Scholarships to the convention
* 11. Organizing and promoting Broadcast Events
* 12. Creating Adviser Bags with Real Goodies (not just paper advertising)
* 13. Organizing Media Tours
* 14. Organizing Sight-Seeing Tours
* 15. Selling Booth Space to Colleges for the College Fair in the Exhibition Hall
* 16. Selling Booth Space to Journalism/Media Related businesses for the Exhibition Hall
* 17. Selling Advertising to Journalism/Media Related businesses for the convention’s printed program brochure
* 18. Organizing and Staffing On-Site Critiques of Student Publications
* 19. Establishing a Student Work Force: runners, guides, Write-Off contest assistants
* 20. Promoting, organizing the Adviser Outreach Academy (with JEA)
* 21. Recruiting media professionals for Break With a Pro, scheduling sessions

If you take on a job, you will be encouraged to come to Seattle twice for organizational meetings with the executive directors of JEA and NSPA. One will probably be scheduled this fall or winter. Another will probably be scheduled two months before the convention. In addition, the WJEA Board Meetings (which occur about 6 times per year) will be increasingly focused on convention planning. Would you be required to attend all of these meetings? No. You will be invited to all of them and be sent agendas, but you can attend as many as possible and send written progress reports by email.

It is important to know that you don’t have to already know how to do the job you volunteer for. As long as you have and interest and are committed, you will be trained and you will have the opportunity to communicate with your counterparts doing similar jobs at the other JEA/NSPA national conventions around the country. And if you can make it to these other conventions, you will be able to see first-hand how the conventions operate.

If you volunteer for a convention job, not only will you be “giving back” to the profession you are a part of, but this convention will make money for WJEA that will be used to fund local workshops, scholarships, and events for Washington students and advisers. Our organization depends on the boost this event gives to both our membership roster and to our treasury.

Perhaps the most important reason for getting involved in hosting this event is that you will LEARN AND HAVE FUN. As scholastic journalism always does, this event will bring out abilities and talents you didn’t know you had. You will meet people who will become life-long friends, and you will become proud to have put on a great party for four or five thousand of your scholastic journalism friends.