The SFJ 2013 conference runs from Oct. 9-12th in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Take a moment to mark your calendar and make your plans to join us for the SFJ 2013 Features Journalism Conference.

Hotel reservations are being accepted now.

A bulk room rate has been secured for $109/night.  The hotel offers free wifi and provides a shuttle to and from the Poynter campus.

You can reserve your room now by going to this link: http://cwp.marriott.com/tpasd/societyoffeaturesjournal

A scene from our awesome 2012 silent auction.

We would love to hear why you attended the conference and what’s the best idea you picked up at a recent SFJ conference that you put to use in your newsroom?

As the features editor of The Roanoke Times, I’ve attended five conferences and have felt recharged at each one. It’s a great way to network and meet other features editors and learn from one another. It’s also nice to have the time away from the daily pressures of the office to evaluate our jobs and challenges, and get advice if needed.

Thanks to the Show & Steal sessions, I’ve brought back great ideas to reproduce at my paper, including asking readers for their hilarious Scared of Santa photos. And you’ll never fail to find something amazing at our annual silent auction to benefit our diversity fellows program.

Now it’s time for you to share your testimonial. How did the conference help you in your job? Leave your comments below or tweet us at @WeareSFJ. We may share some of your thoughts in our conference program this year.

– Kathy Lu

SFJ would like to recognize the wonderful work being done on a daily basis by you and your colleagues around the country.  The full list of winners can be found on our contest page.

All winners will be formally recognized at our annual conference at Poynter in October.

Congratulations one and all!

.

Greg Braxton

The Society for Features Journalism has awarded Penny Bender Fuchs Diversity Fellowships to two minority journalists to attend the organization’s 2013 annual conference.

Greg Braxton, entertainment reporter at the Los Angeles Times, and Carlos Frias, columnist and features writer at the Palm Beach Post, will receive all-expense paid trips to attend the conference Oct. 9-12 at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, Fla.

Braxton has been a journalist for 35 years. A graduate of the California State University at Northridge, he started as reporter at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner. He moved to the Los Angeles Times, where he has worked since 1982. Braxton has primarily covered television at the L.A. Times since 1992 and has been part of three Pulitzer Prize-winning teams at the paper. He has continually examined the issue of minority representation in film and television and says, “There is much more work to be done in the industry on this front, and I fully intend to keep reporting on it. Participating in this fellowship will help provide me with added perspectives and insights that no doubt will assist me in that endeavor.”

Carlos Frias

Frias is a graduate of the University of Florida in Gainesville. He has been a staff writer at the Cincinnati Enquirer, the St. Petersburg Times and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He has worked at the Palm Beach Post since 2004, focusing on long-form narrative journalism and previously on special projects in sports. He won the International Latino Book Award for best debut book for “Take Me With You: A Secret Search for Family in a Forbidden Cuba” in 2009 and first-place awards from SFJ for general and specialty features in 2011. Of his job, Frias says, “Features allows us to tell the stories of amazing people in amazing circumstances and ordinary folks in extraordinary times.”

The Diversity Fellowship offers an opportunity for journalists of color to gain a broader experience in features and underscores SFJ’s commitment to diversity within our newsrooms. Applicants were judged on the quality of their work samples, their interest in features journalism and their commitment to diversity issues. The society’s membership is open to any features writer interested in sharing and learning from a community dedicated to advancing storytelling in our society.

The prizes are impressive:

• First place winner will receive $5,000 and free registration to attend the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference July 19-21, 2013 in Grapevine, Texas
• Second place winner will receive $2,000
• Third place winner will receive $1,000

Submissions must have been published between Jan. 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012. Deadline to enter is June 1.