Award notifications are out, the program is set, and now it’s time to make plans to join us for the 2026 NENPA Leadership Summit, October 8–9 at the Publick House Historic Inn in Sturbridge, Massachusetts.
This year’s award honorees will be recognized during the Awards Luncheon on Friday, October 9, bringing journalists, news organizations, colleagues and supporters from across New England together to celebrate outstanding journalism, leadership and service. If you or someone from your organization has been recognized, we hope you’ll join us in Sturbridge to celebrate—and stay for a full day focused on what comes next for local news.
This year’s Summit, “What’s Next: Leading the Future of Local News,” brings together an exceptional group of journalism leaders for conversations about the ideas, experiments and opportunities shaping the future of our industry. From AI and newsroom transformation to new approaches to audience, revenue, growth and sustainability—and ultimately the changing role of journalism itself—the program is designed to offer practical ideas and new perspectives you can bring back to your organization.
Two important deadlines are approaching: the Publick House room block is available through September 23, and Leadership Summit registration closes September 30.
Make the most of the Summit by arriving on Thursday, October 8, for our informal Welcome Dinner with attendees, speakers, NENPA board members and staff. A special NENPA room rate of $249 per night, plus applicable taxes and fees, is available for Thursday night. To reserve a room, call (508) 347-3313 and mention the New England Newspaper and Press Association room block or group code 1026NE. Rooms must be reserved by September 23 to receive the group rate.
On Friday, October 9, we’ll present a full day of sessions, conversations, the Awards Luncheon and opportunities to connect with colleagues from throughout New England. The full program is below.
Make Plans to Join Us in Sturbridge
Whether you’re coming to celebrate an award, hear from industry leaders, connect with colleagues or explore ideas for your organization’s future, the 2026 NENPA Leadership Summit is an opportunity to come together with the New England news community and focus on what’s ahead.
Registration closes September 30. Make your plans now and join us October 8–9 in Sturbridge.
OCTOBER 9 SUMMIT SCHEDULE
8:00 AM – Registration, coffee, and continental breakfast
9:00 AM – AI and What’s Next: Building the AI-Ready News Organization
We’ll begin by moving beyond the AI hype and looking at what it can actually mean for a news organization. Members of the NENPA and Google News Initiative AI cohort will share projects they have spent the past several months developing: what they tried, what they learned, and where they see real opportunities to put AI to work.
Then Aimee Rinehart, formerly Senior Product Manager for AI Strategy at The Associated Press and now focused on strategic journalism innovation through Frontier Collective, will take the conversation further: How should news leaders be preparing their organizations for AI – not someday, but now?
Rinehart will explore the opportunities, decisions, and responsibilities ahead as AI becomes increasingly embedded in the business and practice of journalism, and what leaders should be thinking about as they prepare their organizations for what comes next.
10:30 AM – What’s Working: New Models for Local News
What happens when you bring together leaders from three very different—and highly innovative—news organizations?
PJ Browning of The Post and Courier, Lauren Gustus of The Salt Lake Tribune, and Karen Bordeleau of The New Bedford Light will offer a candid look at how their organizations are experimenting, growing, and adapting.
Together, they’ll explore audience development, geographic expansion, philanthropy, membership, collaboration and new approaches to sustainability – including what has worked, what hasn’t, and what they’re trying next.
Guiding the conversation will be Liz White Notarangelo, coach and consultant with the Local Media Association, where she works directly with publishers and news organizations exploring new approaches to sustainability, transformation, and journalism funding. Liz also brings deep New England roots and firsthand experience leading a local news organization through enormous change.
Together, this group brings an unusual combination of experience to the table: leaders who know the challenges of sustaining local journalism from the inside and who are actively working on new ways forward.
Expect a candid conversation about what’s working, what isn’t, what they’re learning, and what other news leaders might take home and try themselves.
12:30 PM – Celebrating New England Journalism
The Awards Luncheon will be a highlight of the Leadership Summit, bringing the New England news community together to recognize outstanding journalism, leadership and service. This year’s honorees have now been notified, and we look forward to celebrating their achievements with colleagues from across New England in Sturbridge.
The luncheon will feature the New England Newspaper of the Year Awards, Publick Occurrences Awards, Allan B. Rogers Editorial Award, New England First Amendment Award, A-Mark Prizes, AP Sevellon Brown New England Journalist of the Year, Bob Wallack Community Journalism Award and The Cornerstone Award.
2:00 PM – Looking Ahead with Tom Rosenstiel
In the afternoon, we’ll step back from individual technologies and business models to consider an even bigger question:
What does journalism itself need to become next?
Tom Rosenstiel, one of the country’s leading thinkers on journalism and co-author of the landmark The Elements of Journalism, will draw from his new book, The Next Journalism, to explore how journalism can become more useful, trustworthy and connected to the people and communities it serves.
At a moment when so much of the conversation about journalism focuses on what the industry has lost, Rosenstiel offers something especially valuable: a vision for what journalism can become next.
3:00 PM – Closing Conversation: What Will You Take Home?
Before we leave Sturbridge, we’ll bring the conversation back to the room: What challenged your thinking? What questions are we still wrestling with? And, most importantly, what ideas will you take home and put to work?