Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford announced as JournoFest keynote speaker

Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford is the keynote speaker for our ninth annual journalism conference JournoFest.

JournoFest brings together News Associates and The School of Journalism trainees for a day-long festival of high-profile speakers and special guests from the media industry – and 2024 is no different.

JournoFest 2024 will open with an address from our keynote speaker, followed by three panels covering the Post Office scandal, how to navigate the relationship between the police and the media and how to succeed in today’s changing media landscape.

We’ll also hear from Daily Mail associate editor, and Journalist of the Year, Stephen Wright.

During her 30-year career, Crawford has been arrested, detained, abducted, interrogated and faced live bullets, tear gas, IEDs, and mortar shells.

Based in Istanbul, she reports on major stories around the world. She has won numerous awards including two Emmys, a BAFTA for coverage of the Ebola crisis, and is an unprecedented five-time winner of the Royal Television Society Journalist of the Year award.

Crawford, who began her career on the Wokingham Times, is also the NCTJ’s patron and was awarded an OBE for her fearless journalism.

A photo of our keynote speaker for JournoFest, Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford.
Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford

Previous JournoFest guest speakers have included The Times chairman John Witherow, The News Movement editor-in-chief and co-founder and Society of Editors president Kamal Ahmed, ITV Loose Women panellist and columnist for The Sun Jane Moore, Sky News presenter Samantha Washington, The Times crime correspondent David Woode, Newsquest Oxfordshire regional editor Andrew Colley, Financial Times artificial intelligence editor Madhumita Murgia, The Sun director of digital and head of The US Sun Will Payne, NCTJ chief executive Joanne Butcher, Good Morning Britain correspondent Nitya Rajan, Sunday Express editor David Wooding and many more journalists. 

From left to right: News Associates deputy managing editor, and JournoFest host, Graham Dudman, Jane Moore, David Woode, Samantha Washington and Kamal Ahmed.
From left to right: News Associates deputy managing editor, and JournoFest host, Graham Dudman, Jane Moore, David Woode, Samantha Washington and Kamal Ahmed at JournoFest 2023

JournoFest 2024 will take place at the Twickenham Stoop – and be livestreamed – on Saturday March 23 and is exclusively for News Associates and The School of Journalism trainees, and a few special guests.

You can follow all the action on Twitter @NewsAssociates/@TheJournoSchool, Instagram @NewsAssociates and TikTok @NewsAssociates_

See our highlights from previous JournoFest events here.