The four best online and multimedia professional journalism groups — The Society for News Design

Society for News Design
SND.org

Organization background and purpose:
Originally established long ago when there was no public Internet as a print design group similar to AIGA, but with a news focus, SND is evolving faster than any other professional journalism organization.

Organization vibe:
Youthful feel, experimental, diverse, inspiring, a little crazy, but a good crazy… like you don’t know what’s around the corner but you want to look. Kinda like walking around a disco bar in Star Wars.
Cost to join:
Professional (Circulation over 30,000 and consultants) - $105 annually
Professional (Circulation 29,999-under and full-time educators) - $95 annually
Full-time students - $55 annually

Benefits / “What you get”:
SND’s asssets are definitely the publications and conferences/workshops. Read their official schpeal

The conference experience:
- SND –hands-down– has the best journalism conference I’ve ever attended. The energy is just so much different. It’s exciting, inspiring, entertaining and a great networking environment. Just about everyone’s approachable, excited, friendly and awesome. This year’s conference in Vegas is going to be epic.

Other events, workshops:
- This year SND blew everyone out of the water for training their members. The organization clearly recognized the massive changes taking place in the industry and has gone to the wall for their members offering more than a dozen quick course workshops in multiple topics all over the country. They just totally pwnd everyone in training this year. Bravo.

My favorite things about being a member:
- (The conferences and quick courses I just mentioned obviously are on my list here)
- SND’s membership always strikes me as the most creative and diverse (geographically, technically, demographically) group of any journalism organization. (ONA has a couple of regulars from the English-speaking European countries, and Sports Shooter has some members peppered around the world.) But SND has very clear anchors of the organization established abroad.
- The quarterly Design magazine is freaking fantastic. I’d subscribe to it even if I wasn’t part of the organization. Jonathon Berlin and the crew that put that magazine out are awesome.
- The Best of Design competition and the book that comes out of it is awesome. I wouldn’t wish a trip to Syracuse, New York in February on my enemies, but the week that the “Best of” competition takes place in Syracuse (in February) is a fantastic experience I’d wish on all my homies.
- SND also has one of the best blogs of professional journalism organizations, as well as a series of regional news blogs that are well kept.

My least favorite thing about being a member:
- While the SND.ies (the multimedia competition for SND) are still relatively new, I wish they were a larger part of the organization, more active in the magazine/blogs and a bit better organized. Overall though, the quality of work they recognize is outstanding. There’s no winning just because your from ‘x’ publication, as it sometimes appears in other competitions. The most innovative work is recognized by the SND.ies. I just wish it was more than once a year!

The most exciting thing to look forward to from this organization:
Watching them continue morph from a print-focused organization into one that enthusiastically embraces the web and new forms of storytelling is so refreshing (especially as so many newsrooms drag their feet to do just that). I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. I wish they offered lifetime memberships because I’d buy one right now.

Read more reviews of the four best online and multimedia journalism professional organizations.