About SFJ
Founded in 1947, the Society for Features Journalism is dedicated to promoting, honoring and celebrating the craft of features journalism — stories that illuminate everyday lives and the rich diversity of our individual experiences.
Our members are editors, writers, videographers, podcasters, photographers, freelancers, designers and student journalists from across the United States and Canada.
Our Mission
We provide connections.
We bring features journalists together to learn from and support one another.
We honor excellent work.
Each year, our annual journalism contest awards the best in features storytelling — from narratives to video storytelling to podcasting. Our contest is one of the few that awards a cash prize to first-place winners.
We gather to share ideas.
Our national conferences and virtual events have brought together many of the industry’s heavy hitters. In recent years we’ve had unforgettable sessions with Pulitzer Prize winners Eli Saslow, Lane DeGregory and Tom Hallman Jr.; ESPN’s Kelley L. Carter; The Atlantic’s Amanda Mull; Ron Fournier, former Washington bureau chief at the Associated Press; and Jim DeRogatis, the Chicago journalist who broke the R. Kelly sexual abuse story.
We promote diversity.
Our annual Excellence-in-Features contest has an Inclusion and Representation in Features category to recognize revelatory storytelling that centers historically marginalized or undercovered communities.
For our national conferences, SFJ awarded fellowships to journalists of color so they could attend the conference for free. Since the Penny Bender Fuchs Diversity Fellowship began in the early 1990s, we’ve brought more than 100 such journalists to our events. A few former fellows, including Margaret Myers and Mesfin Fekadu, are continuing to serve SFJ in leadership roles.
SFJ Board of Directors
Laura Coffey, President
Senior editor, writer, author and strategic advisor (formerly TODAY show/NBC News Digital)
Mesfin Fekadu, Vice President
Senior editor, music at The Hollywood Reporter
Emily Spicer, Immediate Past President
Sales Enablement Manager, Deloitte (formerly San Antonio Express-News)
Alice Short, Chief Finance Officer
Senior editor, Los Angeles Times
Margaret Myers, Finance Committee Member
Managing Editor, Long—Dash
Jonathan Landrum Jr., Chief Contest Officer
Entertainment writer and producer, The Associated Press
Sharon Chapman, Contest Committee Member
Senior strategist at The Mach 1 Group Public Relations (formerly Austin American-Statesman)
Robert Morast, Chief Membership Officer
Transformation and Technology Editor, San Francisco Chronicle
Christopher Wynn, Membership Committee Member
Assistant Managing Editor for Specialty Reporting and Innovation at The Dallas Morning News
Kathy Lu, Chief Digital Officer
Poynter Institute adjunct. Media consultant on leadership and DEI strategies
Samantha Guzman, Digital Committee Member
Editor, Arts Access, The Dallas Morning News and KERA
Sue Campbell, Chief Programming Officer
Assistant Managing Editor, Features at Minneapolis Star Tribune
Stefanie Loh, Programming Committee Member
Assistant Managing Editor, Features at The Seattle Times
Our History
1947
The American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors started in 1947 at the American Press Institute (API), then located at Columbia University. Seventeen Sunday editors (all men) at newspapers ranging from the Williamsport Grit to The New York Times had just finished attending a two-and-a-half-week API seminar, and they met up at the end of it to discuss their specific issues and challenges. That meeting was so successful that they agreed to meet again at API a year later — and an annual tradition was born.
1948
Garrett Byrnes, the Sunday editor of The Providence Journal and the originator of the idea to keep meeting, was elected the first president of AASFE. Byrnes shared these memories of the early group’s emphasis on honest criticism and feedback:
“(Critique) sessions, held in someone’s hotel room, involved free and frank discussion of the four or five papers involved. Usually, it was a searing experience, carried on until two or three in the morning.”
Mid-1950s
AASFE’s membership limit is raised to 50.
1967
AASFE’s membership limit is raised to 60.
1972
The membership ceiling is lifted entirely.
1979
Sheena Paterson of the Toronto Star becomes the first female president of AASFE. (See full list of past presidents.)
1988
AASFE launches Excellence-in-Feature-Writing contest to encourage “fine writing” and awards prize money to winners.
1990s
Membership exceeds 200 people for the first time.
1997
The Hall of Fame launches to commemorate the 50th anniversary of AASFE.
2011
AASFE changes its name to Society for Features Journalism to better reflect industry realities as “Sunday editor” positions became less common.
2012
The SFJ Foundation is created.
2019
The annual conference in Detroit is the last in-person SFJ event before the COVID-19 pandemic. Over 72 years, host cities included New York, Washington, D.C., Kansas City, Detroit, Québec, Vancouver, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Seattle and others (see full list).
2020-present
SFJ makes its membership free to support journalists through the pandemic. Our popular Excellence-in-Features journalism contest, which sees hundreds of entries every year, continues to celebrate the best in features journalism. SFJ also begins offering virtual programming.
2024
SFJ reaches a record high of more than 400 members and launches a new website.
“The 1949 (AASFE) meeting in Miami ... was followed by a trip to Cuba. The 1951 meeting included flights over Pikes Peak and to Saratoga, Wyoming, and a trip to Royal Gorge. The 1954 trip was followed by a trip to Nassau. The 1957 meeting included a trip by Navy destroyer to a clambake in Newport. … No one is mentioning trips to Nassau these days, but fun and friendship are part of the deal too.”
— From AASFE history account written in 1983
SFJ Hall of Fame
The Hall of Fame was launched in 1997 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the founding of the American Association of Sunday and Features Editors, which has evolved into SFJ. Ten members were inducted that first year, and all were lauded as visionaries in the field of features journalism. The Hall of Fame now numbers 27 members.
Class of 1997
Marty Claus
Shelby Coffey III
Ruth D’Arcy
Colleen “Koky” Dishon
Mary Hadar
Robert Hosokawa
Dorothy Jurney
David Laventhol
Jack Loftis
Seymour Topping
Class of 1998
Bill Hosokawa
Class of 1999
Rosalie Muller Wright
Class of 2000
Michael P. Smith
Class of 2001
Eppie Lederer (Ann Landers)
Pauline Phillips (Abigail Van Buren of “Dear Abby”)
Class of 2002
Jon Franklin
Class of 2003
Susan Bischoff
Class of 2004
Leonard Pitts Jr.
Class of 2005
Arthur Gelb
Class of 2006
Scott McGehee
Class of 2007
Roy Peter Clark
Class of 2008
Jacqui Banaszynski
Class of 2009
Chris Beringer
Janet Grimley
Class of 2010
Roger Ebert
Class of 2018
Ann Maloney
Alice Short
SFJ Foundation
The SFJ Foundation Inc. was organized in late 2012 as an affiliated foundation of the Society for Features Journalism.
It has supported the mission of SFJ by:
Sponsoring our Diversity Fellowship program, which awards scholarships to journalists of color to attend SFJ’s annual conferences.
Fostering relationships with student journalists aspiring for careers in lifestyle, arts and entertainment and culture reporting.
Providing educational opportunities for features journalists through sponsored seminars.
In the last few years, most of SFJ’s programming has been virtual. In the coming months, we will be exploring the possibility of resuming live events and conferences. Please stay tuned!