REFRESH AND RECHARGE AT OUR LONG BEACH GETAWAY
ACP SPRING NATIONAL COLLEGE MEDIA CONFERENCE
March 6-8, 2025 • Long Beach, California, at Hyatt Regency Long Beach
Boost your publication — and your skills — with the training you need
More than 150 sessions from experienced journalists and advisers
Advertising & marketing speaker
Kathy Simon
Central Michigan
Past speaker
Tamara Zellars Buck
Southeast Missouri State
Past speaker
Gary Metzker
Cal State Long Beach
Past keynote speaker
Samantha Melbourneweaver
AME for audience / Los Angeles Times
ADVERTISING
SALES & MARKETING
STAFF RECRUITMENT
SPORTS REPORTING
LEADERSHIP
REPORTING & EDITING
ACROSS PLATFORMS
DIGITAL STORYTELLING
VISUALS & DESIGN
MAGAZINE
CONTENT & EDITING
YEARBOOK PLANNING
ISSUES REPORTING
RETOOLED PRINT PRODUCTS, PDFs & NEWSLETTERS
PHOTOGRAPHY
ACP Spring National
College Media Conference
Registration
*NEW DATE* Early bird prices until 2/20:
$149 for ACP, CCMA, JACC members
$169 for nonmembers
Regular rate 2/20 and beyond:
$169 for ACP, CCMA, JACC members
$189 for nonmembers
Scholarship opportunity
ACP is offering a scholarship opportunity for conference attendees that have been impacted by the Greater Los Angeles wildfires.
Hotel & conference site
The conference site and hotel is the Hyatt Regency Long Beach.
$259 flat rate
Cut off date Feb. 20 *new date*
Address: 200 S Pine Ave, Long Beach, CA 90802
Phone: (562) 491-1234
Sponsor and exhibit at the conference
Connect with decision-makers in collegiate journalism — and gain visibility for your organization in collegiate media. More information available here.
ACP returns to beautiful Long Beach
It’s one of our favorite sites for one of our best conferences — and a welcome destination in the spring.
This conference brings together collegiate journalists and advisers from across California and across the nation, with helpful sessions, critiques, advice and feedback.
Check out the city of Long Beach and all it has to offer.
Our sessions focus on topics you need
From advertising and marketing to reporting across platforms, our breakout sessions will tackle the topics that you need — for your publication, your staff, your readers and your career.
We’ll include the fundamentals and then focus on the latest trends in the fast-changing environment of collegiate journalism and media.
Leading our dozens of sessions will be experienced journalism professionals and award-winning advisers — speakers whose expertise can help you at your skill level.
We’re planning a much-needed boost to conclude the academic year and prepare you for what’s ahead.
We also welcome your ideas for session topics at the ACP spring conference.
> Submit a session proposal > Email your ideas for a session topic
LA Times breaking news reporter Hannah Fry joins as Thursday keynote
Hannah Fry is a breaking news reporter for the Los Angeles Times. Recently, she has been part of the team covering the 2025 Los Angeles wildfires as they have swept through the area. She was part of a team that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2020 for its coverage of a boat fire off the coast of Santa Barbara. She will join ACP as the Thursday keynote speaker.
Pepperdine Graphic Media panel join as Friday keynote
Student editors and reporters from the Graphic newsroom at Pepperdine University will share their experience of covering the Franklin Fire in Malibu, Calif. Just weeks later, the team worked to cover the Palisades Fire, which burned Pacific Palisades and Malibu. The team produced a special edition on wildfires in the area and helped to report on the issues most urgent to their campus and surrounding communities.
Stanford Daily’s Dilan Gohill to keynote Saturday
ACP is excited to welcome Stanford Daily reporter Dilan Gohill as a keynote speaker in Long Beach. While reporting for The Stanford Daily at a pro-Palestinian demonstration last June, Dilan Gohill was arrested. He, along with the demonstrators, was held in a Santa Clara County jail for about 15 hours. His arrest gained national attention and was decried by First Amendment advocates.
More than seven months after the incident, Stanford University finally confirmed in January that Gohill will not face campus disciplinary action, though criminal charges are still pending, according to SPLC. Gohill will join us in Long Beach Saturday March 8.
Get helpful advice
from a critique
Our on-site media critiques are one of the most popular features of the convention, with common-sense suggestions for improvement.
Enter Best of Show
for the conference
Celebrate this year’s work through the ACP Best of Show competition, with both Individual Recognition and Staff Recognition categories — now open for submission.
And rally your staff to vote for our People’s Choice Awards on Friday afternoon.
Level up your design skills with The Design Lab
The design track at this year’s conference is bigger and better than ever with an all-new format designed to inspire, educate, and empower visual storytellers.
Thursday will feature sessions diving deep into the art and craft of media design. Follow that with the brand new Design Lab — a full day of hands-on, workshop-style learning. Saturday morning there will be an opportunity for cross-publication collaboration with a morning workshop for editors and designers.
Bring your creativity, your questions, and your team—we’ll see you there!
Join us to celebrate your success
ACP will announce its top national awards, the Pacemakers, in business, online and yearbook, as well as its Individual Awards in business and advertising.
The conference also celebrates the top collegiate work among California colleges and universities, with the year’s CCMA and JACC award winners.