Workshops on Health Journalism and Mental Well-being at JEA/NSPA

The Pulitzer Center is excited to connect with middle and high school journalists and journalism advisers at the spring 2026 national convention of the Journalism Education Association/National Scholastic Press Association (JEA/NSPA) in Minneapolis, Minnesota!

Connect With Us at Our Booth in the Trade Show

Come see us at booth #817 in the Trade Show all day Thursday and Friday to learn about our free resources for educators and students. We will have games, resources, and a pop-up experience from our Ode to Healthy Futures project, which invites you to make connections to the science that shapes our lives and share your vision for a healthier world. You can contribute lines of poetry to a virtual gallery, and get resources to bring this initiative into your classroom or community.

Join Us for Student Workshops

Our Education team staff and journalist Andy Steiner will be leading three interactive workshops on journalism and mental wellbeing for students and advisers.

Friday, April 17, 8:00-8:45am CDT

"Fighting Words Poetry Workshop"

How do you find underreported news stories on the issues that matter most to you? And how can creating original poems inspired by those stories elevate your personal connections to global issues and uplift the voices of those most affected? Participants will leave this workshop equipped to write a poem in response to a Pulitzer Center-supported news story that shares their personal perspective about a global issue. Poems can be entered into the 2026 Fighting Words Poetry Contest for the chance to win cash prizes and publication.

Friday, April 17, 10:45-11:45am CDT

"Covering a Mental Health Beat with MinnPost's Andy Steiner"

Join Andy Steiner, MinnPost reporter and Pulitzer Center StoryReach Fellow, for a deep dive into covering the mental health and wellbeing beat for a nonprofit local news outlet. Steiner will describe how she developed her beat, how she approaches sensitive stories, how she has cultivated sources over time, and how her latest project on the impacts of national health funding cuts on addiction treatment localized a global issue. Students will walk away with tips for developing their own mental health story ideas and reporting on them.

Friday, April 17, 2:00-3:00pm CDT

"Reporting With a Mental Health Lens: Tools and Strategies"

Do you want to amplify stories focused on mental wellbeing in your community? How can you embed a mental health lens into your reporting? Join the Pulitzer Center Education team as we evaluate journalism by Pulitzer Center grantees from several news outlets on the intersections of mental health with topics ranging from education to LGBTQ+ rights to healthcare and addiction treatment. How can the strategies employed by these journalists support our own reporting, and how can we incorporate an emphasis on mental wellbeing into diverse stories?

The JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention is the nation’s largest gathering of scholastic journalists, advisers, and journalism teachers. The JEA/NSPA convention has become the place to seek solutions to the most challenging publishing and broadcasting problems, share and celebrate success stories, see what’s new in the media marketplace, discover trends and network with students and advisers from throughout the United States.