State Convention
Registration is OPENING SOON for the 2025 OSMA State Convention!
April 11-12, 2025 at Kent State University
Dates and Rates:
Registration closes on March 28. OSMA cannot accommodate for any changes in registration numbers made after that date due to catering deadlines.
Click here to register advisers and students.
New this year: we are expanding our content on Saturday morning (included in your registration price), so plan to stay overnight and join us for Day 2 if possible!
Cost: $50/attendee, includes catered awards banquet on Friday evening. $30/attendee without the banquet.
All participating schools must have a current OSMA membership.
Friday – April 11, 2025
Franklin Hall
- 10:30 a.m.- 1 p.m. – Registration
- 11:00-11:45 a.m. – Session 1
- 12:00-12:45 p.m. – Session 2
- 1:00-1:45 p.m. – Session 3
- 2:00-2:45 p.m. – Session 4
- 3:00-3:45 – Session 5
- 4:00-4:45 – Session 6
Kent State Student Center Ballroom
- 5:00 p.m. Banquet doors open
- 5:30 p.m. Welcome and dinner
- 6:30 p.m. – Keynote speaker
- 7:00 p.m. Awards ceremony
Saturday – April 12, 2025
Franklin Hall
- New this year! Saturday Sessions will be student-led and focused on engagement between schools. Students will be able to meet with each other to problem solve, brainstorm, and share their experiences in a meaningful way.
- 9:00-9:45 a.m. – Session 7
- 10:00-10:45 a.m. – Session 8
- 11:00-11:45 a.m. – Session 9
Highlights include:
A huge variety of learning sessions, everything from writing to photography, photography to broadcast, print to social media, journalism to public relations to film. That’s Friday afternoon, April 11. We’ll send you a draft program at least a week before the convention.
Then, Friday evening we’ll host the banquet. Enjoy a buffet with plenty to eat, a keynoter you will enjoy (name to be released in late March), and a chance to receive kudos for what went well and suggestions on how to keep improving your student media. Your publication’s name — and YOURS — can be up on the screen at the awards banquet so everyone can cheer.
If you can, stay the night and return for even more programming on Saturday, April 12. We are planning to create authentic opportunities for you to interact with other journalism programs to share ideas, collaborate, and problem solve. Plan for hands-on sessions that help you with exactly what you need to finish off the 2024-2025 school year and hit the ground running in August.
Be sure you have a current membership and be sure to enter the contests/critiques by this year’s deadline. The OSMA annual membership costs $100 for your school, and it covers the cost of entries from all your student media. You can pay in person at the convention or ahead of time by check.
Interested in speaking at the convention? This year’s Speaker Proposal Form closes on March 14, so be sure to fill it out with any proposed speaker sessions. We will contact all speakers and arrange the details shortly after the window closes.
QUESTIONS? email Julieanne McClain [email protected]