Thank you for your interest in joining the ONA25 Volunteer Program Committee. The deadline to express interest was Feb. 13, 2025, and this application is now closed.
Each year a volunteer group of journalists, news leaders and related professionals review session pitch submissions and help design programming for the Online News Association’s annual conference. ONA25 is taking place Sept. 10-13 in New Orleans.
What do Volunteer Program Committee members do?
There are three major tasks ONA25 Volunteer Program Committee members are expected to complete:
- Collaborate with ONA staff to review every submission made to the ONA25 Suggestion Box, and make recommendations based on pitches’ quality, value and fit
- Build out the ONA25 conference schedule with Suggestion Box pitches that fulfill ONA topic and format priorities, and help identify high-quality presenters
- Help find programming balance among the three ONA25 Areas of Focus: Artificial Intelligence, Climate, and Resilience
This work entails a time commitment of approximately 10 hours total, mostly in early-April 2025, but with some additional ad hoc tasks through August 2025.
Committee members are asked to review all pitches assigned to them and to attend at least two Program Committee all-hands calls in March and April. The workload is distributed among all members of the team and there is some flexibility based on individual schedules and needs.
In exchange for this work, Volunteer Program Committee members will be provided complimentary passes to the full ONA25 conference in New Orleans.
What happens after I apply?
ONA staff will review all responses to this form and then select about 15 people to invite to join the Volunteer Program Committee. Applicants will have the opportunity to decline this commitment at that time.
ONA will select a Committee that is diverse in experience and identity and that appropriately represents the broader ONA and digital journalism community. All responses are confidential and will only be shared with ONA staff as part of the committee selection process. The deadline for submitting this form is 11:59 p.m. PT on Thursday, February 13. (See who was part of the ONA24 Committee.) While not everyone who fills out this form will be selected for Committee service, we sincerely appreciate your enthusiasm and are excited to see you in New Orleans for ONA25 regardless.