The COVID-19 policy for the Fall JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention is now available on the convention website. 

Organizers are following Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and will continue to evaluate convention protocols as new updates are available for COVID-19 and monkeypox.

To attend this convention as an attendee, speaker or vendor, you must be up to date with COVID-19 vaccinations. If you are not fully vaccinated, you may not attend.

Up-to-date vaccination is defined as having two Moderna, Novavax or Pfizer shots, or one Johnson & Johnson shot plus the recommended booster(s).

If you completed the primary vaccination series before mid May 2022, you are, or will be, eligible for the recommended booster before the fall convention. If you have or will complete the primary series after mid May 2022, you would not be eligible for or required to have the recommended booster to attend the fall convention.

You can learn more about the CDC’s booster recommendations for each age group for each brand distributing primary doses.

Proof of vaccination can be submitted via the CrowdPass health screening portal. Each attendee must create their own account and submit their own vaccination record. Convention officials cannot access or view individual vaccination records in CrowdPass but receive a report including pending, rejected or accepted status for all attendees. Beginning in October, advisers will be notified by email weekly of students who are registered for the convention but missing approval from CrowdPass.

At this time, masking will be optional for all attendees. 

We were truly hoping we would not need to require COVID-19 vaccinations for the fall convention. 

We understand and regret that this may exclude some of your students from attending. Our goal is to provide a safe experience for attendees. During a four-day convention with attendees from all across the world, we know there is a higher risk for person-to-person transfer and community spread regardless of vaccination status, but limiting exposure to vaccinated persons reduces the risk, severity of symptoms, isolation terms and additional factors that we must take into account.

Registration opens at noon Central Sept. 13.

JEA and NSPA will continue to monitor the pandemic and monkeypox, including national, state and local guidelines and requirements.

If you have any questions about the vaccination requirements for the fall convention, please email NHSJC@jea.org.