About SFJ

Founded in 1947, the Society for Features Journalism is dedicated to promoting, honoring and celebrating the craft of features journalism — stories that illuminate everyday lives and the rich diversity of our individual experiences.

Our members are editors, writers, videographers, podcasters, photographers, freelancers, designers and student journalists from across the United States and Canada.

Our Mission

We provide connections.

We bring features journalists together to learn from and support one another.

We honor excellent work.

Each year, our annual journalism contest awards the best in features storytelling — from narratives to video storytelling to podcasting. Our contest is one of the few that awards a cash prize to first-place winners.

We gather to share ideas.

Our national conferences and virtual events have brought together many of the industry’s heavy hitters. In recent years we’ve had unforgettable sessions with Pulitzer Prize winners Eli Saslow, Lane DeGregory and Tom Hallman Jr.; ESPN’s Kelley L. Carter; The Atlantic’s Amanda Mull; Ron Fournier, former Washington bureau chief at the Associated Press; and Jim DeRogatis, the Chicago journalist who broke the R. Kelly sexual abuse story.

We promote diversity.

Our annual Excellence-in-Features contest has an Inclusion and Representation in Features category to recognize revelatory storytelling that centers historically marginalized or undercovered communities.

For our national conferences, SFJ awarded fellowships to journalists of color so they could attend the conference for free. Since the Penny Bender Fuchs Diversity Fellowship began in the early 1990s, we’ve brought more than 100 such journalists to our events. A few former fellows, including Margaret Myers and Mesfin Fekadu, are continuing to serve SFJ in leadership roles.

SFJ Board of Directors

Laura Coffey, President

Senior editor, writer, author and strategic advisor (formerly TODAY show/NBC News Digital)
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Mesfin Fekadu, Vice President

Senior editor, music at The Hollywood Reporter
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Emily Spicer, Immediate Past President

Sales Enablement Manager, Deloitte (formerly San Antonio Express-News)
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Alice Short, Chief Finance Officer

Senior editor, Los Angeles Times
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Margaret Myers, Finance Committee Member

Managing Editor, Long—Dash
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Jonathan Landrum Jr., Chief Contest Officer

Entertainment writer and producer, The Associated Press
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Sharon Chapman, Contest Committee Member

Senior strategist at The Mach 1 Group Public Relations (formerly Austin American-Statesman)
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Robert Morast, Chief Membership Officer

Transformation and Technology Editor, San Francisco Chronicle
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Christopher Wynn, Membership Committee Member

Assistant Managing Editor for Specialty Reporting and Innovation at The Dallas Morning News
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Kathy Lu, Chief Digital Officer

Poynter Institute adjunct. Media consultant on leadership and DEI strategies
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Samantha Guzman, Digital Committee Member

Editor, Arts Access, The Dallas Morning News and KERA
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Sue Campbell, Chief Programming Officer

Assistant Managing Editor, Features at Minneapolis Star Tribune
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Stefanie Loh, Programming Committee Member

Assistant Managing Editor, Features at The Seattle Times
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Our History

“The 1949 (AASFE) meeting in Miami ... was followed by a trip to Cuba. The 1951 meeting included flights over Pikes Peak and to Saratoga, Wyoming, and a trip to Royal Gorge. The 1954 trip was followed by a trip to Nassau. The 1957 meeting included a trip by Navy destroyer to a clambake in Newport. … No one is mentioning trips to Nassau these days, but fun and friendship are part of the deal too.”

— From AASFE history account written in 1983

SFJ Hall of Fame

The Hall of Fame was launched in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors, which has evolved into SFJ. Ten members were inducted that first year, and all were lauded as visionaries in the field of features journalism. The Hall of Fame now numbers 27 members.

Class of 1997

Marty Claus
Shelby Coffey III
Ruth D’Arcy
Colleen “Koky” Dishon
Mary Hadar
Robert Hosokawa
Dorothy Jurney
David Laventhol
Jack Loftis
Seymour Topping

Class of 1998

Bill Hosokawa

Class of 1999

Rosalie Muller Wright

Class of 2000

Michael P. Smith

Class of 2001

Eppie Lederer (Ann Landers)
Pauline Phillips (Abigail Van Buren of “Dear Abby”)

Class of 2002

Jon Franklin

Class of 2003

Susan Bischoff

Class of 2004

Leonard Pitts Jr.

Class of 2005

Arthur Gelb

Class of 2006

Scott McGehee

Class of 2007

Roy Peter Clark

Class of 2008

Jacqui Banaszynski

Class of 2009

Chris Beringer
Janet Grimley

Class of 2010

Roger Ebert

Class of 2018

Ann Maloney
Alice Short

SFJ Foundation

The SFJ Foundation Inc. was organized in late 2012 as an affiliated foundation of the Society for Features Journalism.

It has supported the mission of SFJ by:

  • Sponsoring our Diversity Fellowship program, which awards scholarships to journalists of color to attend SFJ’s annual conferences.

  • Fostering relationships with student journalists aspiring for careers in lifestyle, arts and entertainment and culture reporting.

  • Providing educational opportunities for features journalists through sponsored seminars.

In the last few years, most of SFJ’s programming has been virtual. In the coming months, we will be exploring the possibility of resuming live events and conferences. Please stay tuned!