SFJ’s 2026 conference returns to Phoenix this October: ‘Reinventing with Purpose’
Our 2025 conference at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication was a huge success. Come join us this October! Photo by Zineb Haddaji, a Hubert H. Humphrey Fellow from Djibouti
Are you a journalist who could use an infusion of inspiration, camaraderie and support? If so, you’re in luck!
The Society for Features Journalism is gearing up to host our next national conference from Oct. 22-24, 2026 at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix. You can register for the conference here.
Last year, we celebrated our first in-person conference since the pandemic at the same location. That gathering was EPIC, and this year’s conference is shaping up to be just as memorable.
Our 2026 conference theme, “Reinventing with Purpose,” highlights the turbulent changes impacting our industry and our individual roles as journalists. The conference program will underscore the importance of being nimble and adaptable while maintaining our ethical standards and our commitment to journalistic craft.
Get ready to be inspired by the likes of:
Robin Givhan, the legendary fashion critic, senior critic-at-large and author who spent more than 25 years at The Washington Post and is now a contributing Opinion writer for The New York Times. Givhan won the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism for her fashion coverage.
Tom Sietsema, the legendary food critic for The Washington Post who revealed his identity to readers for the first time last October, when he left the paper after almost 26 years. The winner of a James Beard Award, Sietsema is now pursuing a career as a solo journalist.
Aaron Parsley, a senior editor at Texas Monthly and the winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing for his story “The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River.” Pulitzer jurors honored Parsley for “his extraordinary personal account of survival and loss written days after the historic Central Texas floods that tore the writer’s house out from under him and his family, taking the life of his nephew.”
Kurt Streeter, a national correspondent for The New York Times who writes unforgettable feature stories exploring how individuals navigate large social forces in American life.
Mark Armstrong, editor of Nieman Storyboard at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard and host of the Nieman Storyboard podcast, which digs into the craft of journalism and storytelling. Armstrong is the founder (emeritus) of Longreads.
Mitchell S. Jackson, winner of the 2021 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing and the 2021 National Magazine Award in Feature Writing for “Twelve Minutes and a Life,” his article in Runner’s World about the killing of Ahmaud Arbery. An award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction books, Jackson is the John O. Whiteman Dean’s Distinguished Professor in Arizona State University’s English Department.
Jan Winburn, a veteran narrative editor, writing coach and investigative editor whose writers have won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing, the Peabody Award, the Edgar R. Murrow Award, the Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Storytelling and more.
Monimala Basu, director of the low-residency MFA in Narrative Nonfiction at the University of Georgia. A veteran journalist who has reported exhaustively from South Asia and the Middle East, Basu worked as a reporter and editor at CNN, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and other newspapers.
Bahar Anooshahr, The Arizona Republic’s nightlife and dining reporter who loves to find stories that highlight and celebrate the diversity of metro Phoenix. Before she became a journalist, she was an oral and maxillofacial surgeon. (!!)
Lauren Saria, The San Francisco Standard’s food editor who has spent more than a decade covering food, drink and the restaurant industry. Previously, she served as editor of Eater San Francisco and held food editor roles at The Arizona Republic and Phoenix New Times.
Grant Johnson, a multimedia journalist and graduate researcher at ASU’s Cronkite School who studies how Gen Z consumes news. Grant focuses on how journalists can better engage younger audiences through storytelling that meets the moment — specifically by borrowing successful techniques from social media influencers without sacrificing journalistic standards and ethics.
Alana Yazzie, creator of The Fancy Navajo, a lifestyle and food blog that follows Alana's life as a contemporary Diné/Navajo woman living in Phoenix. Yazzie has led cooking demonstrations for the Food Network and Bon Appétit, and she’s the author of two books: “The Modern Navajo Kitchen,” and a children's cookbook called “The Blue Corn Kitchen: A Navajo Story of Food, Family & Tradition.”
More stellar speakers to come!
Once again this year, conference sessions will delve into the ways AI is reshaping journalists’ workflows and requiring us to adapt and reinvent how we work. We’ll also lean into what SFJ members do best: eating, drinking and laughing together while building each other up.
Registration:
Registration is $299 from July 7 to Sept. 20. You can use this link to lock in your registration today.
We’ve reserved a block of hotel rooms a three-minute walk away from ASU’s Cronkite School at the Hampton Inn & Suites Phoenix Downtown for $160 a night. Use this link to access the SFJ rate at the Hampton Inn, which is a Hilton hotel. (Important note: That link only will allow you to book a room for the nights of Oct. 22 and 23. To extend that rate beyond those two official conference nights, contact the hotel’s group sales coordinator Estefani Solorio at esolorionaranjo@ncghospitality.com or at 602-714-5604.)
Check out these great ideas curated last year by SFJ member and former president Ann Maloney on how to turn the trip to Phoenix into a mini-vacation!
We are so excited to see you in person at a time when we need to support each other more than ever. Please join us in Phoenix and level up your journalism game!
Laura T. Coffey is the immediate past president and conference chair for the Society for Features Journalism and a longtime editor and feature writer. She’s also the author of the bestselling nonfiction book “My Old Dog: Rescued Pets with Remarkable Second Acts.” Connect with Laura here.
