A Review of the Student Journalism Conference and an Exciting New Development in Student Media: The Student Media Association.

The 2025 Student Journalism Conference wrapped up on Monday, August 18th, and saw Sydney play host to student journalists from across Australia and beyond. The four-day conference was held on the campus of the University of Sydney and was hosted by student publication Honi Soit. Nineteen publications had representatives at the conference, including LaSallian, a paper based at De La Salle University in Manila.

Over the course of the four-day event, participants attended workshops and panel discussions led by both fellow students and industry veterans, such as Sydney Morning Herald investigative journalist Kate McClymont and foreign correspondent for The Australian Will Glasgow.

Noise was, of course, in attendance after making our debut appearance at last year’s conference (then called the Student Media Conference). Current Coordinator Max Richter-Weinstein and co-founder Pepsi Sharma (who graduated earlier this year) hosted a workshop on starting a student-run publication. They hosted alongside Serena Emanuele and Emma Cranby (The Tert, University of Wollongong). Imogen Sabey (Honi Soit, University of Sydney), the director of the Student Journalism Conference, also made an appearance at the end of the workshop to discuss the basics of media law (AKA how not to get sued).

But the big news to come out of the conference was the formation of the Student Media Association (SMA), an overarching national body with the aim of strengthening ties between university publications across the country and advocating on behalf of said publications to protect and improve student media.

The organisation is believed to be the first of its kind in Australia, but was in part inspired by the College Editors Guild of the Philippines, which the LaSallian representatives explained has existed since 1931.

The SMA is in the process of establishing democratic processes to ensure its governance is sufficiently representative of the diverse range of student journalism in Australia. For the moment, Imogen Sabey has been made interim president, with Riley Bampton (Glass, Queensland University of Technology) serving as interim general secretary. Noise’s Max Richter-Weinstein is one of three interim vice presidents, focusing on the news portfolio.

On a personal note, the conference was an amazing experience. I didn’t get to see as much as I would have liked, being bogged down by the twin horrors of exams and illness. But what I did see was genuinely inspiring. The vast array of different student-run publications helped expand my understanding of what student journalism could look like. From the news-driven Honi Soit, which has on occasion broken what would become national headlines, to the sonically-focused Radio Monash, with its amazing recording studios and emphasis on local music.

Leading a university publication is not always an easy role. But to be surrounded by people who believed in the importance of student journalism, who were battling for their own publications at their own universities left me fired up and ready to continue with renewed vigour.

Honi Soit described the conference as “the greatest gathering of Australian student media ever seen.” It was a bold claim, but one that spoke to the future possibilities of student journalism, and the idea that our worst days don’t need to be behind us; an important message indeed in a time where it seems everything, including freedom of speech, is going backwards.