Scholastic Journalism Week

Feb. 22-26, 2027

Start Here, Change Everything

Every great story begins somewhere. And in scholastic journalism, it begins in our classrooms, with a question, a notebook, a camera, a microphone or the courage to speak up when others stay silent.

This year's theme — "Start Here, Change Everything" — celebrates the power of student journalists to inform their communities, elevate unheard voices and document the moments that define their schools and society. In classrooms, newsrooms, yearbook labs and broadcast studios, students learn far more than reporting, writing, editing and design; they learn how to seek truth, think critically, engage respectfully and lead with integrity.

Scholastic journalism is where curiosity becomes confidence, where observation becomes action, and where young people discover that their words and images have the power to inspire dialogue, create understanding and drive meaningful change. Every interview is an opportunity to listen. Every deadline is a lesson in responsibility. Every story is a chance to leave a lasting impact. Whether covering a championship game, celebrating student achievements, spotlighting important issues or preserving memories for future generations, student journalists are shaping the historical record of their communities while preparing to shape the world beyond them. The journey starts with a single idea, a single question or a single story, but the possibilities are limitless.

Start here. And together, we can change everything.

Throughout the week, and throughout the year, we invite you to use hashtags #SJW2027 and #StartHereChangeEverything, and tag JEA, when you share works of journalism from your staff, reminding your community of the importance of scholastic journalism.

Schools are invited to submit to be featured on JEA social media during Scholastic Journalism Week 2027. Staff will email a certificate to featured schools' administrators to acknowledge and celebrate the great work you are doing.

#SJW2027 #StartHereChangeEverything

SJW Student Poster Contest

JEA is hosting this year's S cholastic Journalism Week Student Poster Contest from Aug. 10-Sept. 14, 2026. Students are invited to submit poster designs inspired by this year's theme: Start Here, Change Everything. The SJW committee will select three finalists and then the JEA community will vote for the winner.

The winning design will be featured on a commemorative poster promoting #SJW2027 that will be sent out to JEA members in November with the winter issue of C:JET magazine. We encourage advisers to display the poster in their classroom before and after the big week.

Visit the contest page for more info

Scholastic Journalism Week daily themes

Each day of Scholastic Journalism Week 2027 will focus on a daily theme that breaks down the week's overall theme — Start Here, Change Everything — with Thursday celebrating Student Press Freedom Day.

Schools will be able to celebrate every day of #SJW2027 with free, curated lesson plans designed by JEA curriculum experts. These free lesson plans will correspond with the daily themes. Lesson plans coming soon.

Monday, Feb. 22 — Start.

Every journalist has a first story. For some, it begins with curiosity about a school event. For others, it starts with a desire to tell stories that might otherwise go untold. Scholastic journalism provides students with a place to learn by doing, asking questions, conducting interviews, taking photographs, producing broadcasts and meeting deadlines. Students arrive with different experiences and skill levels, but they quickly discover that journalism is less about having all the answers and more about learning how to find them. The journey begins here, with a willingness to learn and a commitment to telling stories that matter.

Tuesday, Feb. 23 — Here.

Journalism is most powerful when it is rooted in the community it serves. While national headlines and global events shape our world, student journalists make those issues meaningful by exploring how they affect their own campuses and communities. They investigate how policy decisions affect students, highlight local voices often overlooked in broader conversations, and tell stories that reflect the unique cultures of their schools. By focusing on the people and experiences closest to them, students learn that journalism starts locally and that some of the most meaningful stories can be found just down the hall.

Wednesday, Feb. 24 — Change.

Being part of a journalism staff changes people. It teaches students to step outside their comfort zones, ask difficult questions and have conversations with people whose perspectives differ from their own. Through these experiences, students develop resilience, empathy, leadership and confidence. They learn that their voices matter and that their work can make a difference.

Thursday, Feb. 25 — Student Press Freedom Day

The nation’s student journalists and their supporters join together for the 10th annual Student Press Freedom Day, a national moment to stand up for press freedom and recognize the essential role student journalists play in their communities.

Friday, Feb. 26 — Everything.

In a rapidly changing media landscape marked by misinformation, emerging technologies, shifting audiences and evolving platforms, the need for ethical, accurate and responsible journalism has never been greater. Journalism prepares students to meet that moment. They learn that journalism is more than a profession; it is a public service that strengthens communities, holds institutions accountable and preserves the stories that define our shared experiences. Whether students pursue careers in media or take these skills into other fields, they leave with an understanding that informed citizens are essential to a healthy society.

#SJW2027 featured schools

For Scholastic Journalism Week, JEA features several schools on social media, putting a major focus on the many ways in which scholastic newsrooms around the country are diverse.

Schools are invited to submit to be featured in 2027. Staff will email a certificate to featured schools' administrators to acknowledge and celebrate the great work you are doing.

Submit to be a featured school

Declare Scholastic Journalism Week in your hometown

Use this resolution template, created by Stan Zoller, MJE, to encourage your school board, city council, county board or even student council to declare the week Scholastic Journalism Week in your area.

More ideas to celebrate SJW at your school

General

SJW activities can take many forms and it is up to each staff to decide what works for them leading up to and during Scholastic Journalism Week:

Use our daily SJW themes and hashtags to engage with JEA member schools on social media.
Submit some of your published work and reflections to our SJW Featured School series. We will highlight work inspired by our daily themes by student media from around the country each day during the week.
Work to have a broader impact in promoting the ideals of scholastic journalism. Involve local media.
Hold an all-school program in which staff members teach their peers about ethical journalism and how it’s practiced in their publications or how students can tell the difference between fake news and real news, and ethical reporting methods.
Host a school journalism movie series or night, after which students and/or professional journalists can discuss how real-life journalists go about their jobs.
Run a social media campaign to draw attention to pressing social issues among high school students.
Publish some sort of photo essay mixed with writing and stories to show just how important journalism is. We could have reaction shots of students, parents and community members reading our school newspapers, students laughing at the yearbook, etc., to show how much journalism, especially student journalism, can have an impact on society.
What sort of work has been done in scholastic journalism because students have the freedom to publish?
Tweet “Why the First Amendment is important to me.” “Why ethical journalism is important to me.”
Conduct outreach to get people interested in consuming and/or producing journalism.
Support New Voices by writing letters of support for schools/states who are working on student press freedom legislation.
Hold a law and ethics crash course on the First Amendment.
Work to produce profile pieces on students from different backgrounds, marginalized voices. #StudentVoice.
Ask the same question to different students in your community & compare answers.
Stand for and promote Truth, Leadership, Learning, Loyalty, Integrity, Initiative, Judgment, Friendship.
Release simple, powerful statements that underscore the importance of “real” news and the process of verification.
Promote #everydayjournalism — any story can make a difference.

High Effort

More time consuming. May take more than a little effort

Take some video of your upcoming deadline. Post it online, via Facebook or Twitter to show your community what a scholastic publication goes through to share all the news that’s fit to print, or record the memories that make the year.
Portrait project: Draw attention to the week and your staff. Assign students a portrait project. Depending on access to photography equipment, students could check out cameras for a day with a partner or group and head out on campus to get their portrait taken (you could even specify that their portrait be taken with a cellphone camera for additional challenge). They then come back to the lab, upload their photos and chose one portrait of themselves that they feel encompasses their personality and who they are. Share them as a staff and then share them with your community. Mount them and put each staffer’s name on his or her portrait. Then use a wall outside your publication office or an empty trophy case to display the photos.
Have an "Amazing Race"-style First Amendment scavenger hunt. Students are given clues related to each of the Five Freedoms scattered around the school (eg. “speech” clue hidden on the speaker). Kids have to find each item, then go on to the next clue. Prizes are given to the first three to complete the list.
Hold a “Meet the Press” event at your school. Send out invitations (either tangible ones or email) and invite your school’s staff and administrators to a short after-school get-together. Buy or make Scholastic Journalism Week-themed cake or cookies, have soft drinks available, have your entire publication staff in attendance and schmooze it up. Send thank-you cards after the event letting those who attended how much you appreciate their support.
Promote yourself. Use this week as a special way to recruit. Send out a celebration packet to your feeder schools, send it with some of your staffers. Create a brochure to advertise your program and suggest easy ways those in your community could get involved.
Send thank-you notes to advertisers and/or other people in your community who consistently help you out.

Medium Effort

Have your students tweet about the First Amendment and moments during the week they think about those freedoms. Use the hashtag #SJW2023 so we can all follow your tweets!
Celebrate the week by conducting short lessons on each of the Five Freedoms, one each day.
Have your students take each day to conduct polls of the student body about those freedoms, what they know, but more importantly educating them on what they don’t know. Culminate the week with a penny drive for the Student Press Law Center.
Change your profile pic on Facebook to the SJW poster.
Write a status update during the week about why you consider scholastic journalism essential to your school, or why you continue to be a part of scholastic journalism. Share your passion, share your inspiration. What keeps you going?
Celebrate yourself, at the end of the week, treat yourself to something special (whether it’s a cup of your favorite coffee, a pedi/mani, maybe a massage). You, as an adviser, do so much to support what your students do, you deserve to take some time to yourself.
Have your staff attend the school board meeting during the week. PACK THE HOUSE! Maybe even be proactive and attend the meeting but also address the board about the value of journalism in the curriculum and of free and responsible student news media serving the community.
Print posters from this page for the week and put them up all over your school the Friday evening before so students see them at the beginning of the week.

Small Effort

Set up morning announcements for each day. Have them either read over the intercom or broadcast via your television broadcast class.
Have your staffers wear their staff shirts, 45words or other First Amendment shirts, or anything and everything related to journalism at least once during the week at the same time. Need fresh swag to rep during SJW, find what you need at the JEA store.
Have your students take a day to write a letter to your local paper about the importance of journalism to them, the school, etc.
Do Something! Don’t let the week slip by!