Each year, the Online News Association (ONA) brings together the people leading change and adaptation across journalism to learn, connect and dig into the big issues impacting our work. It’s a place for you to understand what’s happening now and what’s coming next, build the skills that help you thrive through change, and connect with others navigating similar challenges. Longtime members and newbies alike often say ONA gatherings feel different — it’s a time to strategize, learn through our successes and shortcomings, and explore clear-eyed solutions that help our community not just survive disruption but grow through it.
With a move to a spring conference going forward, and only six months between ONA25 and ONA26, we’re hearing how excited many of you are to dive right back into the big themes and questions keeping you up at night. Today, we’re sharing a first look at the discussions we’ll host in Chicago March 30-April 1, and how you can add your voice to the conversation.
What the program will focus on
Again this year, we identified three cross-cutting themes impacting people in journalism across roles, geography, and newsroom type that you’ll see woven throughout the program:
- Evolving trends in newsgathering and delivery: From generative AI to social video, audio, newsletters and the rise of creator-model journalism, we’ll unpack the ways emerging tech and shifting audience expectations are changing newsroom strategies for gathering, reporting and distributing news. Alongside high-level insights, you’ll get practical tips and interactive session elements to help your teams experiment and adapt at all levels.
- Community resilience: Healthy communities depend on strong journalism, and many news organizations are exploring their roles beyond storytelling as connectors and community partners. Using case studies and workshops, we’ll explore how journalists can help communities navigate issues including climate change, immigration and more.
- Protecting democracy: At a moment when democratic institutions and press freedom are under attack worldwide, journalism’s role is both more complex and more essential. We’ll explore how journalism can deepen civic engagement and rebuild trust, and what your newsroom needs to know about covering elections in 2026.
Find sessions tailored to your role
You’ll find the themes above reflected throughout the conference schedule, in breakout sessions, deep-dive workshops, networking meetups and plenary conversations. One of ONA’s superpowers is our community’s diverse cross-section of roles and responsibilities, so attendees will be able to explore each theme in the context of several areas of practice:
- Adaptive Leadership
- Audience Engagement
- Entrepreneurship and Creator Journalism
- Reporting and Editing
- Revenue and Operations
- Technology and Product
How we built the initial schedule
With our move to the spring and a compressed planning window, we needed to simplify the session selection process — which usually entails an open pitch, community review, scheduling and onboarding. To kickstart the ONA26 schedule, our volunteer program team helped select a group of strong session ideas pitched for ONA25 that, now updated, form the foundation of the ONA26 program.
What we’re still looking for — and how you can help
Now we need to hear from you! Check out what’s on the schedule so far, and tell us what’s missing. Today, we’re opening a simplified Suggestion Box so you can pitch fresh ideas we should be talking about this spring. We’ll review these suggestions on a rolling basis and are particularly looking for sessions on:
- Adaptive leadership: Skills and strategies leaders need to navigate rapid change, shifting audience needs and evolving business demands
- Revenue and operations: Creative approaches to building sustainable, resilient news organizations
- Skills-building workshops: Participatory sessions with concrete, actionable takeaways
- Civic journalism and supporting democracy, including meeting voting and election information needs
- Strategies for building resilience in a fast changing public media landscape
- Podcasting, audio production and distribution and video journalism in an attention economy
- Actionable sessions tailored to executives and newsroom leadership
As there are a very limited number of in-person session slots, we may reach out to discuss converting some ideas to a virtual format as part of our year-round programming if they are a better fit.
More opportunities to contribute to ONA26 will open as we get closer to gathering in Chicago. In the new year, we’ll invite proposals for Unconference sessions, Table Talk discussions and informal community meetups. We’re excited for you to help shape the journalism community’s most important conversations at ONA26.
How does this impact the OJAs?
With the annual conference moving to the spring, many have asked how this affects the Online Journalism Awards. The timeline remains largely unchanged: submissions will open in late March, finalists will be announced in August, and winners will be honored at both a virtual ceremony and an in-person event, with dates to come. The key difference is that the in-person OJA celebration will now be a stand-alone event, providing the finalists and winners a brighter spotlight. We’ll announce the complete 2026 OJA timeline in the new year.