2019 Convention Sponsors

The Gannett Foundation is a corporate foundation sponsored by Gannett Co., Inc. Through its Community Grant Program, Gannett Foundation supports nonprofit activities in the communities in which Gannett does business. Through its other programs, the Foundation invests in the future of the media industry, encourages employee giving, reacts to natural and other disasters, and contributes to a variety of charitable causes. Click here to learn more. 




The News Lab is a team within the Google News Initiative whose mission is to collaborate with journalists and entrepreneurs to drive innovation in news. Offering partnerships and training in over 50 countries, the News Lab brings the best of Google technology to tackle important challenges in journalism today.




The JSK Journalism Fellowships supports diverse journalists from around the world who are deeply engaged in exploring solutions to journalism’s biggest problems. We focus on accelerating change in the journalism industry to improve the access to information people need to create and sustain democratic communities. 




Knight Foundation is a national foundation with strong local roots. We invest in journalism, in the arts, and in the success of cities where brothers John S. and James L. Knight once published newspapers. Our goal is to foster informed and engaged communities, which we believe are essential for a healthy democracy.




The Lenfest Institute for Journalism is the first-of-its-kind non-profit organization whose sole mission is to develop and support sustainable business models for great local journalism. The Institute was founded in 2016 by cable television entrepreneur H.F. (Gerry) Lenfest. Lenfest gifted to the Institute an initial endowment of $20 million, which has since been supplemented by other donors, for investment in innovative news initiatives, new technology, and new models for sustainable journalism. Lenfest also gifted his ownership of the Philadelphia Media Network (The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, and philly.com, the Philadelphia region’s largest local news website) and these news properties now serve as a live lab for the Institute’s innovation efforts. The Institute is overseen by a Board of Managers including news executives, media entrepreneurs, software and technology executives, philanthropists, community leaders and leading academics.




Medill, a leader in education since 1921, offers programs in journalism and integrated marketing communications that combine enduring skills and values with new techniques and knowledge that are essential to thrive in today's digital world. Medill has a long-standing reputation for academic excellence. As the media industry experiences unprecedented change, Medill leads the way. We are training a new generation of multimedia journalists and integrated marketing communications professionals who are not only thriving in this evolving media landscape but also helping shape it.




The New York Times Licensing Group empowers companies to connect with their audiences, harnessing The Times’s world-class journalism and content curation to elevate experiences and engage customers. From political reporting and business, to culture and travel – we give audiences access to expert analysis and global perspective through stories that inform, entertain, and inspire. Our range of Times journalism and curated content is available in an array of formats to help organizations of all sizes streamline communications, supplement existing marketing campaigns and drive growth.




The O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism backs reporters who spend nine months researching and writing the stories they care most deeply about — explanatory and investigative work with the potential to change policies. Fellows are in residence at Marquette University in Milwaukee and are assisted by a team of student journalists. Fellows receive a $65,000 salary stipend, plus generous funding for living expenses, travel and equipment. Fellows can access resources at the Pulitzer Prize-winning Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.




With more than 425 lawyers in 14 offices across the United States, we use the unique skills and talents of our people, the breadth of our practices, and the depth of our experience to deliver powerful solutions to clients’ legal and business issues. The firm was founded in 1890. Start closer to the right answer.® Our firm has grown from a two-person law office formed in Philadelphia to a large, sophisticated law firm with a national and international practice. While much about Pepper is new and different from its beginnings, we retain traditional values passed down through the decades: respect for the rule of law, pride in an excellent work product and commitment to the client's cause. Today, Pepper Hamilton is a diverse firm of men and women from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, united in these values.




The Philip Merrill College of Journalism is one of the world’s leading journalism schools, with a distinguished faculty dedicated to enhancing the news industry and training the next generation of fearless journalists in a state-of-the-art facility near the nation’s capital. In 2016, USA Today College (with College Factual) ranked Merrill College the No. 6 journalism school in the U.S.




The yearlong Poynter-Koch Media & Journalism Fellowship is designed specifically for aspiring and entrepreneurial journalists to refine their storytelling skills and accelerate their careers in media. Unique and central to the media fellowship program is understanding the crucial role of free speech and a free press in our society.




USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. Founded in 1982, its mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Through its unique visual storytelling, USA TODAY delivers high-quality and engaging content across print, digital, social and video platforms. An innovator of news and information, we reflect the pulse of the nation and serve as the host of the American conversation — today, tomorrow and for decades to follow. We reach nearly three million readers daily, and our mobile applications attest to more than 24 million downloads on mobile devices.