Society for Features Journalism

05/07/2026

🗣️ Hello world! Meet our 2026 conference!

We're thrilled to return to the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University for our annual conference, this year from October 22-24.

Some things to know:
🌟 Our guests so far include Robin Givhan — legendary fashion critic and author who won a Pulitzer Prize in Criticism while she was at The Washington Post — and Tom Sietsema — legendary food critic and James Beard Award winner at The Washington Post who only revealed his identity to readers when he left the paper.
🛏️ Our special hotel rate is $160 a night, and it's just a 3-minute walk from the main event space.
🐣 Our early bird rate is $249 through July 6. After that, it will be at our regular rate of $299.

More fun details to come! Let us know if you have any questions, and we hope to see you there!

The Society for Features Journalism is gearing up for 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. Get a sneak peek at the conference program and learn how to register for the early...

03/18/2026

We hear you! You need a little more time to gather your contest entries!

So we have extended the deadline for our annual Excellence-in-Features awards through March 25! There will be no other extensions, so get your entries in!

Details: https://www.featuresjournalism.org/blog/2026/1/30/sfj-2026-features-contest-open

03/16/2026

Reminder! Deadline to enter our annual contest is Tuesday, March 17! (Read: tomorrow.)
We celebrate storytelling in many forms, including podcast, narrative video and social media! We were truly impressed with the entries in these categories last year — see the 2025 winners: https://www.featuresjournalism.org/blog/2025/5/20/sfj-journalism-contest-winners-division-3-combined

SOCIAL MEDIA PORTFOLIO
FIRST: “The Baltimore Banner Instagram,” Staff, The Baltimore Banner
SECOND: “NJ.com’s Instagram and TikTok,” Staff, NJ.com
THIRD: “Chicago Sun-Times’ YouTube Channel, X and Instagram,” Staff, Chicago Sun-Times

NARRATIVE VIDEO
FIRST: Lauren Raposa and Nyah Marshall, NJ.com, “N.J.’s Black Roller Skating Scene Is Thriving”
SECOND: Vickie Connor, The (Portland, Ore.) Oregonian, “Portland Tattoo Artists Recreate Areolas and Help People Feel Comfortable After Cancer Surgery”
THIRD: Hadley Green, The Washington Post, “Construction Workers Memorialized Near Collapsed Key Bridge”

PODCAST – NARRATIVE:
FIRST: “The Harvard Plan,” Staff, Boston Globe, and On The Media
SECOND: “America’s Toxic Tap Water Problem,” Silvia Foster-Frau, Emma Talkoff and Monica Campbell, The Washington Post
THIRD: “Bad Watchdog,” Maren Machles, Padmini Raghunath and Nick Schwellenbach, Project On Government Oversight

You won't win unless you enter, so this is your chance to celebrate something you're really proud of producing!

Link to enter: https://www.featuresjournalism.org/blog/2026/1/30/sfj-2026-features-contest-open

02/16/2026

If you missed our panel discussion on how The Minnesota Star Tribune feature writers have been covering the immigration enforcement surge in their communities, you can now watch the replay.

The journalists shared their processes for finding unexpected human angles in their coverage and for coping with ongoing, relentless stress on the job.

Click on the story to watch the webinar and to get links to the stories they shared — including Laura Yuen's column on how the surge has affected her family.

A huge thank you to Sue Campbell, Allie Shah, Laura Yuen, Reid Forgrave and Sharyn Jackson for taking the time to host this important conversation about a unique moment in our country's history.

On Feb. 12, 2026, SFJ hosted a timely webinar with Minnesota Star Tribune features journalists who have spent more than two months covering the impacts of the ICE surge on the streets of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Watch the replay and read the stories that were discussed.

02/06/2026

We are thrilled to host a conversation next Thursday, Feb. 12, at 1 p.m. ET / 12 p.m. CT / 10 a.m. PT, with a team of feature writers from The Minnesota Star Tribune who have been at the front lines of covering the immigration enforcement surge in Minneapolis.

In SFJ fashion, this won't be about breaking news aspect of events, but the stories of the affected communities and how to cover them with care.

Please click on link below to register for this free, virtual event.

At a free SFJ webinar on Feb. 12, 2026, a panel of Minnesota Star Tribune feature writers will share their experiences with covering the activities of immigration and border control agencies in their Minneapolis communities. Register for the webinar to save it to your calendar.

02/02/2026

It's back! We're excited to announce we are now taking submissions for the 2026 Excellence-in-Features journalism awards.

With 20 categories and 3 divisions, this contest celebrates the craft of storytelling in a variety of formats, from organizations of all sizes.

Catch the early bird rate to save $10 per entry!

Early bird: $50 per entry, now through March 2, 2026.
Regular submission: $60 per entry, March 3 through March 17, 2026.

Freelancers welcome, as are narrative podcasts, videos and social media stories.

If you have questions, ask us! Click the link for details.

The 2026 Excellence-in-Features contest celebrates the craft of storytelling in a variety of formats. Early bird rate of $50 per entry is $10 cheaper than the regular rate. Stories must. have been published in 2025. There are 20 categories and 3 divisions.

01/22/2026

If you're looking to watch something lowkey insightful and highkey inspiring this weekend, consider the presentation New York Times writer Eli Saslow gave at our conference in November.

Saslow is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner as well as winner of the 2025 Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Narrative Human-Interest Storytelling, honoring Ernie Pyle.

Saslow described his process for illuminating large, thorny issues through small, important moments. We share 5 takeaways in the story — including letting scenes and conversations carry the story — but you can also watch the entire presentation on our new YouTube channel!

Yes, we're on YouTube now, too. 🙌 And we'll be slowly adding to our archives there, so subscribe and check back!

Watch New York Times reporter Eli Saslow's keynote presentation at the Society for Features Journalism conference. The Pulitzer Prize winner described his process for illuminating large, thorny issues through small, important moments.

11/25/2025

We are thrilled to welcome Lane DeGregory and Maria Carrillo into our SFJ Hall of Fame!

We love them because they're incredible journalists and because they were helping us stuff swag bags for our conference — proof of their kindness and generosity. But don't take it just from us!

In honor of being inducted into our Hall of Fame, we invited their former colleagues to write something about each of them.

Anita Hassan, the senior news producer at HBO’s “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver," calls Maria the journalist whisperer. She writes:

"Whether a veteran with a Pulitzer on your resume or an intern, you could walk into her office with half an idea, trip over your own sentences and she’ll catch the thread buried inside your confusion. She’ll notice the small detail that becomes the heart of your story. She’ll follow you through every tangent, through the meandering interview notes and even the mind-numbing details. She’ll even read all 12 of your possible ledes before helping you refine the one that was hiding in plain sight all along."

Lenora LaPeter Anton, a Pulitzer prize-winning writer, calls Lane "the people's storyteller." She writes:

"Her stories sparkle. They stun. They make you cry. And ultimately, they inspire. It’s a quality found in the greatest of writers. ...
"And if you were to sit next to Lane at the Tampa Bay Times for two decades, you would come to believe she is tireless. She would inspire you over and over to keep pursuing your dreams. She lacks the ability to give anything but her best — all the time."

Please join us in congratulating Maria and Lane for being inspiring role models, caring mentors and lifelong journalists dedicated to the pursuit of stories that connect and teach us. 🙌

The Society for Features Journalism inducted Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Lane DeGregory and veteran editor Maria Carrillo into the SFJ Hall of Fame at our conference in Phoenix on Nov. 6, 2025. Only 29 people, including Lane and Maria, have received this honor since 1997.

11/19/2025

What did our conference feel like? Here it is in 18 seconds, courtesy of our board member and digital chief Kathy Lu. We hope you’ll join us next year!

11/07/2025

We kicked off the conference with a fun and eventful opening reception, and also inducted two greats into our Hall of Fame: Lane DeGregory and Maria Carrillo!

10/23/2025

The theme for our comeback conference is Rewriting the Narrative. What does that mean?

The phrase can carry multitudes, so here's a short video on what it means to three board members (in order of appearance): Chief Digital Officer Kathy Lu, Chief Finance Officer Alice Short and SFJ president Laura Coffey.

At the heart of it all is our mission to guide and support features journalists through the changes ahead — because the only constant in life (and journalism) is change.

Our conference sessions will speak to, as Laura says, the “human connection that’s at the heart of the work we do as features journalists.”

And we hope that learning from one another will, as Alice says, “rewrite the negativity that’s coming at us and support and inspire our newsrooms to stand up for what is right.”

The deadline to register for the full conference package is this Saturday, Oct. 25.

But don’t worry! You can still buy day passes for Friday or Saturday — even on the day of! Full program here: https://www.featuresjournalism.org/blog/2025/9/23/sfj-2025-conference-program

We hope to see you in Phoenix!

(Credit for our graphic: Jim Haag)