Disney World may make Orlando, Florida, the most magical place on earth, but in a few weeks, high school journalists from around the world will descend on the city for some media magic at the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention.

“Of course Orlando is full of magic — from its basketball team, to the Magic Kingdom to the Harry Potter attraction at the Universal Orlando resort,” JEA Executive Director Kelly Furnas said.  “But what we’re really excited about is the magic that students create when they take pixels on a computer screen and turn them into the broadcasts, newspapers, magazines, websites and yearbooks that their communities’ enjoy.”

The convention, from Nov. 12-15, is the largest fall gathering of student journalists in the country.

“Perhaps my favorite aspect of the convention is that attendees can personalize their learning experience,” Furnas said. “With more than 300 breakout sessions, you can learn about pretty much any specific area of journalism production that interests you.”

Furnas said the networking opportunities are just as valuable.

“Learning from other staffs and other schools is an incredibly important aspect of the convention,” he said.

The conference also includes on-site writing contests where students can compete in nearly 50 different categories related to journalism.

“I get to hand out certificates for those competitions on Sunday morning, and being able to reward the top journalism students in the country — and to see the excitement on their faces for that recognition — might be the best part of my job,” Furnas said.

Students have the opportunity to pair up with an industry professional at a roundtable to discuss journalism and attend issue seminars on race relations and climate change.

“Our issue seminars are designed to be almost like press conferences, where we have lined up experts that might not exist in a school’s community, to talk about pressing issues for high school students,” Furnas said. “It’s our hope that students will take material from the issue seminars and broadcast or publish stories for their communities to learn from.”

For more information about the events, check out the JEA/NSPA conference website. Follow #nhsjc on Twitter throughout the week for pictures and first-hand information from conference attendees.