JEA/NSPA Spring National High School Journalism Convention
Keynote speaker
Hilde Kate Lysiak
The fight against censorship and the new era of journalism
Opening ceremony, 7 p.m. Thursday, April 7, California Ballroom
At a time when our country has been polarized into two different competing visions of reality, and with public opinion of reporters in free fall, it has landed on our generation to restore the trust of the people. By ushering in a new era of fact-based journalism, the future of reporting may be saved. But before this can happen, we must first secure the freedom to report the facts — something that can only happen if we take a stand against corporate and government censorship in defense of the First Amendment.
The opening ceremony will be followed with a book signing and photo opportunity with Lysiak. Convention attendees have exclusive early access to Lysiak’s memoir, “Hilde on the Record: Memoir of a Kid Crime Reporter.”
The book is available for pre-order in the online registration system until March 1. A limited quantity will be available to purchase at the spring convention.
Hilde Kate Lysiak, 15, is the former publisher of the Orange Street News. The paper had more than 1,000 paid subscribers and has been read by millions more online.
At age 9, Lysiak was first to break news of a homicide in her hometown Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Her investigation into corruption at her local fire department resulted in top officers losing their jobs and her exclusive reports on an alleged Ku Klux Klan member resulted in the person being forced to leave town. She was also awarded the Tribeca Disruptor Award for her journalism.
In February 2019, Lysiak again received national recognition after her confrontation with a United States Marshal was captured on video.
Lysiak is the youngest member of the Society of Professional Journalists and in 2019 was awarded the Junior Zenger Award for Press Freedom from the University of Arizona, which honors a young journalist who fights for the right of the press to report the news freely, fully and truthfully.
On May 10, 2019, she became the youngest person in U.S. history to deliver a commencement speech when she addressed the graduating class at West Virginia University’s Reed College of Media.
Lysiak’s journalism efforts have been profiled by The New York Times, Columbia Journalism Review, NBC Today, the Washington Post and hundreds of other newspapers and television stations around the world. Hilde has authored hundreds of articles, and is also the author of the six book series “Hilde Cracks the Case,” published by Scholastic, as well as the forthcoming memoir “Hilde on the Record: Memoir of a Kid Crime Reporter” to be released in April 2022.
Hilde’s life is the subject of the Apple TV+ streaming series “Home Before Dark,” starring Brooklynn Prince and Jim Sturgess, which premiered April 3, 2020.
Hilde is currently taking time away from journalism to attend Nogales High School, where she is a sophomore.
