Congratulations to Katja Ridderbusch, our immediate past president, on receiving the SPJ National President’s Award during #SPJ26 in Columbus. Katja was presented the award by outgoing President Chris Vaccaro in recognition of her work in advancing SPJ and the profession.

About 350 journalists, journalism educators and communications professionals gathered at the annual national conference of the Society of Professional Journalists, SPJ26.

The event Oct. 1-4 in Columbus, Ohio, featured more than 60 information-packed sessions, powerful keynotes and plenty of opportunities to talk shop, connect and make new friends.

SPJ Georgia was represented by Katja , who introduced Georgia Knows Media, our signature media education campaign, to SPJ members from across the country. Twenty-five people attended, more than any other workshop that day. Participants asked thoughtful questions and shared valuable feedback and suggestions, some of which we plan to incorporate into the program.

Katja also organized and moderated a discussion on police-press relations and participated in sessions on the business of freelancing and how to lead a successful SPJ chapter, helping bring some of SPJ Georgia’s key programming and experiences to a national audience.

At SPJ26, Nicole DeCriscio was sworn in as SPJ’s new national president. Congratulations to Nicole, and thank you to Immediate Past President Chris Vaccaro for being such a strong supporter of SPJ Georgia throughout his term.