Journalists are heroes of democracy. For our 31st Anniversary on February 14th, SEJ is sending Valentines to our heroes throughout the years. If you have a journalism hero, tell us using #HonoringTheHeroes. There's no need to donate in order to give your journalism heroes a well-deserved shout-out, but as always we welcome your contributions in their name at www.sej.org/donate and we'll add them to our Wall of Heroes.
Hello,

My SEJ Valentine's Day love runs 30 years long and hundreds, heck, thousands, of individuals deep.

As a founder of the group, SEJ's conference director, and the only person to have attended all 30 of SEJ's annual conferences, I've worked with some 500 or so SEJ-member tour leaders, 1,200 SEJ-member session moderators, and upwards of 6,000 speakers.

That's a lotta love over the years, but, still, I've reserved most of my SEJ heart for my beloved conference chairs, the people who have inspired me, argued with me, protected me, trusted me, loved me, for 30 years. All in the name of our shared vision for a better future and SEJ's important role in mediating and forwarding that discussion.

Networking, sharing war stories, and building camaraderie has always and easily been the most important value of SEJ events. It's in this spirit that my wife and I are giving this year to help a couple of journalists make it to our next in-person conference who might not otherwise be able to attend.

As the superhero conference chairs below all know, this networking and camaraderie can recharge members to get back out on the environmental front lines and keep cranking out these critically important stories, no matter the obstacles.

Happy Valentine's Day and Anniversary, all you hard-working SEJ volunteers!

Jay Letto
Conference Director

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS OVER THE YEARS:

2020 -- Boise State University / Rocky Barker and Christy George
2019 -- Colorado State University / Susan Moran and Joshua Zaffos
2018 -- University of Michigan-Flint / Emilia Askari and Brian Bienkowski
2017 -- University of Pittsburgh's Swanson School of Engineering / Jennifer Bogo and Don Hopey
2016 -- Capital Public Radio and University of California, Davis / Joe Barr and Carolyn Whetzel
2015 -- University of Oklahoma / Nancy Gaarder and Sarah Terry-Cobo
2014 -- No university host (PAB, pg 34) / Mark Schleifstein
2013 -- University of Tennessee at Chattanooga / Anne Paine, David Sachsman and Pam Sohn
2012 -- Texas Tech University / Randy Lee Loftis
2011 -- University of Miami / Jeff Burnside and Angela Posada-Swafford
2010 -- The University of Montana / James Bruggers and Ray Ring
2009 -- The University of Wisconsin-Madison / Peter Annin and Chuck Quirmbach
2008 -- Virginia Tech / Bill Kovarik and Ken Ward Jr.
2007 -- Stanford University / Chris Bowman and Carolyn Whetzel
2006 -- University of Vermont and Vermont Law School / Nancy Bazilchuk
2005 -- The University of Texas at Austin / Dina Cappiello and Randy Lee Loftis
2004 -- Carnegie Mellon University / Don Hopey
2003 -- Loyola University New Orleans / Mark Schleifstein
2002 -- University System of Maryland / Tim Wheeler
2001 -- Portland State University / Christy George
2000 -- Knight Center for Environmental Journalism, Michigan State University / Jim Detjen
1999 -- University of California, Los Angeles / Gary Polakovic
1998 -- The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and The Chattanooga Times / Peter Dykstra
1997 -- The University of Arizona, the Morris K. Udall Foundation and the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy / Russell Clemings and Randy Lee Loftis
1996 -- Washington University in St. Louis / Kevin Carmody and Mike Mansur
1995 -- Massachusetts Institute of Technology / David Ropiek
1994 -- Brigham Young University / Marla Cone and JoAnn Valenti
1993 -- Duke University / Stuart Leavenworth and Wevonneda Minis
1992 -- University of Michigan / Emilia Askari
1991 -- University of Colorado / Jim Detjen