Welcome to the
JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention 
— the nation’s largest spring gathering of scholastic journalists, advisers and journalism teachers.

April 20-22, 2023

San Francisco 
Hilton Union Square

@NHSJC  •  #NHSJC

The convention is a go-to resource for high school journalism programs across the country.

It offers hundreds of instructional sessions led by professional journalists and experienced advisers. It also includes media critiques and JEA’s popular on-site contests, as well as an awards ceremony that announces the JEA Journalist of the Year and the NSPA Pacemaker awards in Innovation, Literary Magazine, Online and Yearbook.

Schools attending the convention may also enter the NSPA Best of Show competition that celebrates current student-media work.

Tentative schedule  •  Pre-convention workshops
Thursday media tours  •  Friday extended sessions
Keynoter Peter Hartlaub  •  Featured speakers  •  Advisers attending
On-site media critiques & schedule

Friday evening entertainment: San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus

Download the EventMobi convention app
for Apple devices or for Android devices.
Enter code nhsjcSF2023 to access the spring convention event.
(Check your app settings to make sure it is Pacific Time.)

> Download the convention program PDF

Why conventions matter

We asked advisers and administrators on how this convention helped their student journalists. 

Insights from advisers

In these nine short videos, veteran JEA advisers describe how to make the most of our conventions.

Compiled by JEA’s educational initiatives director, Shari Adwers, MJE, Loudoun Valley High School Student Media, Purcellville, Virginia.

Insights from administrators

School administrators have seen how their student journalists and advisers have advanced through participation in our journalism conventions.

Compiling these four videos were Val Kibler, MJE, JEA vice president, Harrisonburg High School (Virginia), and Kristin Taylor, NBCT, MJE, JEA’s scholastic press rights director, The Archer School for Girls, Los Angeles.

> Additional adviser resources for convention planning

Convention checklist

√ Download the convention program.

√ See the advisers attending the convention.

√ Plan for your convention trip.
To help with your school paperwork and planning, we’ve compiled documents and forms you can adapt to ease the process. Check out our advisers’ resource page.

√  Get key convention events on your calendar.
Go to our tentative schedule.

√ Check the list of pre-convention workshops
on Thursday, April 20.

√ Look over the exceptional opportunities among the Thursday media experiences and tours.

√ Learn more about Friday evening’s entertainment —
the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus. And take the pre-concert survey so they can learn more about us.

> Watch our special video for the San Francisco convention.

San Francisco & the Hilton Union Square

Our convention hotel, the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, is steps from the Curran and ACT theaters and just two blocks from Union Square and the Westfield shopping center.

Within a mile are the Powell Street cable car turnaround, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Moscone Convention Center.

Watch the city come alive from the comfort of your room in downtown. You’ll be near Nob Hill, Chinatown, the Business District and the Ferry Building Market Place. The hotel also has an outdoor pool and whirlpool, two restaurants and grab-and-go market.

And, baseball fans — the San Francisco Giants play the New York Mets that week at Oracle Park.

Fisherman’s Wharf & Pier 39

Hop on one of the historic trolley cars on Market Street, near our convention hotel, and you’ll get an affordable tour of the city.

You’ll end up at historic Fisherman’s Wharf, a mecca for visitors, with seafood restaurants, fast food and gift stores galore.