Check out our full program for the SFJ 2026 conference in Phoenix!
Top row, from left: Mitchell S. Jackson, Alana Yazzie, Robin Givhan, Tom Sietsema, Mark Armstrong
Middle row, from left: Lauren Saria, Grant Johnson, Kurt Streeter
Bottom row, from left: Shelby Grossman, Bahar Anooshahr, Aaron Parsley, Jan Winburn, Monimala Basu
We are so excited to unveil the full program for our 2026 Society for Features Journalism national conference!
Once again this year, the focus will be on craft, camaraderie, education and inspiration, with speakers like Pulitzer Prize winners Robin Givhan, Aaron Parsley, Mitchell S. Jackson and many more. The conference theme, “Reinventing with Purpose,” will spotlight the turbulent changes impacting our industry and underscore the importance of being nimble and adaptable while maintaining our ethical standards and our commitment to journalistic craft.
The conference will take place from Oct. 22-24 at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication in downtown Phoenix. You can register for it here.
Here is our full SFJ conference program at a glance, followed by important logistical details for attendees:
THURSDAY, OCT. 22
6 to 8:30 p.m.
Welcome Reception and Panel Discussion:
The Odyssey of Covering Food, Culture and History
Welcome to Phoenix! Our 2026 welcome reception will feature wine, beer, non-alcoholic beverages and food provided by Brett Fryer, the executive chef at Alden, the beautiful indoor/outdoor venue at the Phoenix Art Museum where we’ll be gathering to kick off the conference. Get ready to mingle together in a special space and also hear a fascinating conversation about storytelling at the intersection of food and culture. Longtime Los Angeles Times editor Alice Short will moderate a panel discussion with legendary food critic and James Beard Award winner Tom Sietsema, Arizona Republic restaurant critic Bahar Anooshahr and San Francisco Standard food editor Lauren Saria. The conversation will include insights from local chefs about the realities of operating restaurants in our current economy.
FRIDAY, OCT. 23
All Friday daytime sessions will happen in the First Amendment Forum at ASU’s Cronkite School in downtown Phoenix.
8:30 to 9 a.m.
Breakfast, coffee and socializing
9 to 9:15 a.m.
Fun welcome activity so that we’ll all have friends throughout the conference … and beyond!
9:15 to 10:15 a.m.
Fashioning a Career in Criticism
A Conversation with a Pulitzer-Winning Trailblazer for Features Journalism
At a moment when fashion and lifestyle content is everywhere, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Robin Givhan has spent her career showing us what serious features journalism can reveal. Legendary Washington Post critic and author of “Make It Ours: Crashing the Gates of Culture with Virgil Abloh,” Givhan has spent her career proving that what we wear, and how we show up in the world, is a language of power, race and identity. Her appraisal of the fashion industry and the cultural forces that shape it reveals as much about our politics and our national reckonings as any front-page story. Join Robin in conversation with SFJ Past President Margaret Myers about what it means to be one of culture’s sharpest witnesses — and how features journalists can bring that same rigor and curiosity to their own work.
10:15 to 11:15 a.m.
News and Features: The Yin and The Yang
Lessons from the Frontlines with Monimala Basu and Jan Winburn
Whether reporting on the ground, or on the phone, feature writers can stay true to their storytelling mission while also covering the news. To do so requires advance thinking about scale and scope and understanding the difference between timely and topical. In this session, you’ll hear from veteran narrative editor Jan Winburn and veteran narrative nonfiction writer Monimala Basu, two former CNN journalists who believe news can beget the best feature writing.
11:15 to 11:30 a.m.
Coffee / snack / socializing break
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Agentic AI in Journalism: A Hands-On Session
Agentic AI can independently fetch data and build reporter- and reader-facing tools. And it’s easy. Shelby Grossman, a professor of practice at the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at ASU’s Cronkite School, will lead this interactive session. Together with SFJ board member Robert Morast, Grossman will reveal concrete ways to put AI to work in a features journalism context. We’ll talk through the difference between agentic and non-agentic AI and why it matters for journalists; walk through strategies for integrating AI into your reporting; and look at real examples, including an AI-facilitated FOIA tracker. Then we’ll build something together. We will use an agentic AI tool to pull down food safety data and turn it into a searchable tool for readers.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you’d like to participate fully in the hands-on exercises, please bring your laptop, download the ChatGPT desktop app and log in ahead of time. A free ChatGPT account will suffice.
12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Box lunches and socializing
1:30 to 2:30 p.m.
The Fine Art of Hanging Out
A Live Edition of Harvard’s Nieman Storyboard Podcast
Kurt Streeter, a national correspondent for The New York Times, has reinvented himself throughout his career. Tennis and political science were his passions coming out of college, but working with documentary crews ignited a passion for storytelling that led to a fulfilling career at the Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, ESPN and, currently, The New York Times. Key to Kurt’s self-taught reporting style: spending time with his subjects, building rapport and capturing the small moments that would make a big difference in his writing. This session will be a live edition of the Nieman Storyboard podcast, hosted by Storyboard editor (and Longreads founder) Mark Armstrong.
2:30 to 3 p.m.
Coffee / snack / socializing break
3 to 4 p.m.
Beyond the Beige Voice: Craft and Style in Feature Writing
A Conversation with the Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the National Magazine Award
Pulitzer Prize winner Mitchell S. Jackson has never been interested in what Tom Wolfe called the “pale beige tone” — the flat, impersonal prose that New Journalism was built to escape. In this session, Jackson pulls back the curtain on how he builds distinctive, unforgettable voice into his feature work: the propulsive opening of his Clarence Thomas profile, the haunting litany at the heart of his Ahmaud Arbery piece “Twelve Minutes and a Life,” and the daring second-person passages of his New York Times Magazine essay on his one-time mentor, Lonnie. Through close discussion of these pieces with SFJ President Mesfin Fekadu, Jackson will unpack the choices — structural, rhythmic and stylistic — that separate writing that simply informs from writing that sings. A must-attend for any journalist looking to sharpen their own voice on the page.
FRIDAY NIGHT, OCT. 23
6 to 8 p.m.
SFJ Hall of Fame Ceremony, Honoring Robin Givhan and Tom Sietsema
Enjoy hearty appetizers, wine, beer, cocktails and non-alcoholic beverages a short walk away from the Cronkite School at ASU’s Thunderbird Pub as we raise a glass to Robin Givhan and Tom Sietsema, our 2026 SFJ Hall of Fame inductees! In keeping with our “Reinventing with Purpose” conference theme, Robin and Tom will discuss the ways they’ve reinvented themselves over the course of their careers, and we’ll all have a chance to reflect on their epic contributions to features journalism. If you’d like to start getting inspired ahead of time, check out this blog post where Tom looks back on his journalism journey, and this blog post where Robin reflects on her journalism career.
SATURDAY, OCT. 24
All Saturday sessions will happen in the First Amendment Forum at ASU’s Cronkite School in downtown Phoenix.
8:30 to 9 a.m.
Breakfast, coffee and socializing
9 to 10 a.m.
Aftermath: When Personal Experience Becomes Narrative
A Conversation with the Winner of the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing
Three days after surviving a catastrophic flash flood in the Texas Hill Country, Aaron Parsley sat down to write about what befell his family along the Guadalupe River on July 4, 2025. Three days after that, Texas Monthly published his deeply personal story of trauma, loss and love. The response, not unlike the disaster itself, was unexpected and overwhelming. Parsley’s story, “The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River,” won the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing. In the year following its publication, he continued to tell the story of his family and the flood, exploring the nature of grief, resilience and survival itself. Join him in a conversation with SFJ’s Immediate Past President Laura T. Coffey about the power of first-person narratives.
10 to 10:30 a.m.
Coffee / snack / socializing break
10:30 to 11:30 a.m.
It’s All Storytelling: How Influencers and Journalists Can Learn from Each Other
Social media influencers and other online content creators are making inroads into features beats like never before. Against this backdrop, this session aims to bridge the gulf between influencers and traditional media in important and thought-provoking ways. Multimedia journalist Grant Johnson and food blogger Alana Yazzie talk with SFJ board member Jasmine Osby about the potential benefits for journalists who can learn how to shoot their own videos and become trusted voices in their communities. The panelists will offer tips on storytelling approaches and techniques that can help journalists meet younger audiences where they are.
11:30 to 12:30 p.m.
Special “un-conference activities” for attendees, followed by heartfelt gratitudes and goodbyes.
Registration:
Registration for the conference costs $299, a price that covers food and drinks on Thursday night, all day Friday, Friday night and Saturday morning. 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. This rate will remain available to SFJ conference attendees until Sept. 20; after that date, the hotel says the discounted rate cannot be guaranteed and will be subject to availability. 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 in 2025 by SFJ member and former president Ann Maloney on how to turn the trip to Phoenix into a mini-vacation!
We cannot wait 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.
