North Carolina College Media Association formed in December 2007 and offered its initial one-day conference on Saturday, April 5, 2008, in the School of Media and Journalism at UNC-Chapel Hill. That conference marked the launch of the N.C. College Media Association, based in the N.C. Scholastic Media Association offices. Sessions focused on fall 2008 election coverage, along with other topics, which included photography management, adviser networking, understanding polls, open government and technology troubleshooting.

In 2009, the N.C. College Media Association launched a statewide college media contest. Since then, dozens of N.C. college media staffs have submitted their newspapers, online news sites, yearbooks and literary magazines in the association’s Best of Show contest.

N.C. State University’s Office of Student Media hosted the 2009 conference. Sessions addressed business/economic coverage and new media, such as Soundslides and incorporating video into websites.

The 2010 conference at Elon University focused on the business side of media. Several Elon School of Communication faculty taught sessions in design, multimedia and photography.

The 2011 conference at Appalachian State University featured sessions on covering the arts. Representatives of the arts community offered instruction in review writing, arts coverage and design.

Winston-Salem State University hosted the 2012 conference, and Roxanne Jones of ESPN was the guest speaker. WSSU faculty were joined by political reporters and representatives from the then-upcoming national political convention.

N.C. A&T State University highlighted its place in the science community in 2013 with a conference focused on science journalism.

UNC-Asheville was to host the 2014 conference that was later canceled because of weather. In 2015, the organization celebrated the state’s college media with an awards presentation, instructional sessions and a dessert tasting at UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Media and Journalism.

In 2016, Greensboro College hosted the annual conference, which included panels focused on covering religion and race in the media.

You can learn more about the state’s College Media Association here.