2025 NLGJA Student Conference

Start your conference experience off on the right foot with this introduction to NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists from National Board President Ken Miguel. You’ll also hear from student chapter leaders, board members and NLGJA staff. Mix and mingle with your fellow attendees and find out all that NLGJA has to offer and how you can get involved!

Unlock the power of professional relationships in our networking event, designed to help you navigate the world of networking with confidence and authenticity. Perfect for a newcomer or those looking to sharpen their skills, this session will provide valuable insights on creating meaningful connections, engaging in impactful conversations, and leveraging your network to open doors to new opportunities.

Learn effective strategies for building rapport, mastering the art of small talk, and following up with potential contacts. Our expert will share real-world tips on how to grow your network both in-person and online, and how to maintain long-term, mutually beneficial relationships.

Searching for the next step in your career? Looking for a Summer or Fall internship? Introduce yourself to recruiters from top newsrooms, universities and journalism organizations and learn about their available internships and career opportunities.

The Career & Community Expo will run from 2:00 PM-3:00 PM ET on Friday, March 7. During this time, exhibitors will be in their virtual booths, waiting to chat with you and answer your questions.

Some exhibitors may wish to connect with you for interviews outside of the Career & Community Expo on Friday. Check out their pages ahead of the expo to learn more about their availability and schedule private meetings.

Objectivity and impartiality have long stood as some of the core values of journalism. Many newspapers and outlets hold their employees to strict Codes of Ethics, forbidding them from active involvement in partisan causes. However, the past few decades have seen a push back against these notions of objectivity, putting forth alternatives like “point-of-view journalism” and “advocacy journalism.” After political movements like #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter hit the mainstream, more and more young people are identifying as activists. Is it possible to combine activism and journalism, or should there be a strict division between the two? In this session you’ll hear from an array of experts to answer these hotly debated questions. Learn how these terms have changed over time and what they mean in the 2025 media landscape.

We hear recruiters say, “bring your whole self,” to work, but that can be easier said than done. As queer journalists, how can we stay true to ourselves in a newsroom that might be hostile to us? In this session, attendees will hear from established journalists about how they approach their work with authenticity and integrity.

The past several years have seen escalating - and devastating - attacks on transgender, gender nonconforming and nonbinary communities. These communities are finding themselves more visible than ever, but the increase in media attention often gets the facts and framing wrong. Learn more from experts about the kinds of questions you should be asking about your coverage: What stories really matter? How can you catch bias in your own sourcing, and yourself? How do you explain data that’s limited or contested? And how can you catch oversights and spotty news judgment when you’re working on a deadline?

LGBTQ+ journalists, creators and activists are facing unprecedented amounts of harassment online. This session will equip you with practical self-defense tools and strategies to help you fight back and continue exercising your right to free expression.

Join us in this session for a frank discussion of the experiences of queer people of color in the newsroom. All too often, coverage of LGBTQ+ identities and communities fails to take into account the intersections of identities beyond the realm of gender and sexuality. What does it mean to move through the world, and the newsroom, as a queer person of color?