News Associates presents JournoFest 2022: Full lineup revealed

News Associates’ annual journalism conference JournoFest is back bigger and better for its sixth year.

JournoFest always brings together News Associates and The School of Journalism trainees for a day-long festival of all-star guest speakers – but this year JournoFest is week-long series of events open to the public!

We’re kicking off JournoFest on Wednesday May 11 with an in-person and live-streamed launch night and networking soirée.

Our keynote panel discussing the theme of ‘Why journalism is more important than ever’ consists of Joanne Butcher (NCTJ chief executive), Nitya Rajan (Good Morning Britain correspondent) and David Wooding (incoming Sunday Express editor).

All our other events are remote and open to anyone interested, to make JournoFest more accessible than ever. You can sign up here.

Thursday May 12, 6:30pm-8pm – From the front line: reporting on hostile environments (panel)

Our amazing panel is made up of Sophie Alexander (Sky News international affairs producer), Alex Crawford (Sky News special correspondent) and Jerome Starkey (defence editor, The Sun)!

Jerome Starkey has been in Ukraine for several weeks since the Russian invasion, filing daily reports for The Sun. He is due to join us hours after arriving back in the UK.

Alex Crawford – awarded an OBE in 2012 for services to broadcast journalism – has been covering the war in Ukraine this year. The legendary war reporter was in Afghanistan for the fall of the Taliban, and she is the only journalist to have won the Royal Television Society’s Journalist of the Year Award five times. She has also won two BAFTAs, three Emmys, five Golden Nymphs, the Bayeux War Correspondents Award, and the prestigious James Cameron Memorial Award.

Sophie Alexander has just returned from Ukraine where she helped produce Sky News coverage of the war. On Sunday she won a BAFTA for her work at ITN’s Washington bureau for its coverage of the storming of the Capitol building.

Saturday May 14, 12pm-2pm – one-to-one CV clinic

Our panel of experts for this event are Martin Booth (Bristol 24/7 editor), Emma Guy (Each Other editor) and Vickiie Oliphant (Daily Express head of SEO, training and engagement).

Saturday May 14, 2:30pm-3:30pm – getting into journalism Q&A

This is hosted by News Associates managing editor James Toney and editorial development manager Lucy Dyer.

Monday May 16, 6:30pm-8pm – More than a game: why sports journalism matters (panel)

Our sports journalism panel includes some big names – Matt Lawton (The Times chief sports correspondent), Katie Shanahan (freelance sports broadcaster), Leon Mann (BCOMS founder) and Dharmesh Sheth (Sky Sports News reporter).

The above panels will be hosted by our deputy managing editor Graham Dudman and will include 45 minutes of questions from Graham followed by 45 minutes of questions from the audience.

Tuesday May 17, 6:30pm-8pm – Thriving in a digital landscape: telling stories with a difference (panel)

This panel is so epic it has its own guest host – BBC broadcast journalist and News Associates graduate Jacqueline Shepherd! Jacqueline will be joined by Marc Blank-Settle (BBC trainer), Kesewaa Browne (BBC assistant producer), Liz Hazelton (MyLondon editorial director), Daisy Wyatt (Mail+ head of digital).

We’re absolutely thrilled to be hosting all of these amazing guests and to be able to open the events free to everyone interested in journalism!

It’s not too late to sign up!

You can also follow JournoFest live on Twitter and Instagram @NewsAssociates and by using the hashtag #JournoFest.

Click here to read all the best bits from JournoFest 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021.