Mississippi State University is excited to welcome student journalists from around the Southeast for SEJC 2025. The conference will take place from Jan. 31 – Feb. 2, 2025. Conference registration is $80 per attendee, and includes dinner at the Best of the South awards banquet on Feb. 1, and brunch at the Onsite awards brunch Feb. 2.
Attendees will get to hear from some of the top journalists in Mississippi and the nation at SEJC 25. Panelists and speakers include:
- Ross Dellenger, national college football reporter for Yahoo! Sports
- Isabelle Taft, New York Times national reporter
- Craig Peters, senior writer for the Minnesota Vikings
- Liz Crisp, politics reporter for The Hill
- C.J. LeMaster, investigative reporter for WLBT in Jackson, Mississippi
- Brian Hadad, sports commentator for SuperTalk Mississippi
- Kamau Bostic, photographer for the Mabus Agency in Tupelo, Mississippi
- Moe Balaa, founder of AI company Fractal Networks
- Joshua Britt, director of business operations, Fractal Networks
- Jared Laster, digital content creator (YouTube) / realtor
- Philip Poe, sports editor for the Commercial Dispatch in Columbus, Mississippi and MSU professor
- Kathleen Wickham, author and professor emeritus at the University of Mississippi
- Heather Harrison, reporter for the Mississippi Free Press
- Pam Dankins, reporter for the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi
- Jared Conerly, reporter for Greenwood Commonwealth in Greenwood, Mississippi
As part of SEJC 2025, we invite students to participate in our Onsite Competition, which will run from Jan. 31-Feb. 1, with winners announced the morning of Feb. 2.
Onsite competitions will include:
- TV News – Reporting in the Field (individual/team)
- TV News – Anchoring (individual)
- TV Sports News – Editing/Commentary (individual/team)
- Arts and Entertainment Multimedia – Burgeoning Starkville Artists (individual/team)
- News Writing – Data Journalism (individual/team)
- Feature Writing – Exploring Humanity (individual)
- Sports Writing – SEC Game Coverage (individual)
- Opinion Writing – Call to Action (individual)
- Podcasting – Media Criticism (team)
- Radio News – Reporting in the Field (individual/team)
- Sports Photography – SEC Game Coverage (individual)
- Feature Photography – Portraiture (individual)
- Design – Infographic (individual)
- Public Relations – Crisis Management (team)
- Current Events Quiz (individual)
- Media Law Challenge – Navigating the public domain (individual/team)
We look forward to seeing you in Starkville in 2025!
Please email Josh Foreman (jforeman@comm.msstate.edu) with any questions.