National Officer Elections | Chapter elections

AAJA National Officer Elections

Every year, AAJA holds membership-wide elections for national officers. The elections are staggered to ensure continuity on the Board of Directors. In odd years, the positions eligible for elections are Senior Vice President, Vice President of Journalism Programs and Vice President of Communications. In even years, the positions eligible for elections are President, Vice President of Civic Engagement and Vice President of Finance.

The national officers are members of the AAJA Board of Directors. In addition to the six national officers, the Board of Directors is comprised of five elected board members who are members of the AAJA Advisory Board: two board members representing small chapters (fewer than 50 full members) and/or medium chapters (50-99 full members), one board member representing a large chapter (100 or more full members) and two members elected at-large by and from the Advisory Board. These five members’ terms are also staggered to ensure continuity on the Board of Directors. 

AAJA’s elections are rooted in the following core principles: dedication to AAJA’s mission, transparency, respect, empathy, open and constructive debate and the pursuit of organizational and financial stability of AAJA as a nonprofit.

Chapter Elections

In accordance with our bylaws, every year, all chapter board elections must be completed by Nov. 1 and the full board list must be submitted to AAJA-HQ by Nov. 5. Detailed instructions will be sent to your chapter emails.

AAJA needs you! Becoming an AAJA chapter leader is an incredible opportunity to gain leadership skills in people management, project management, communications, and budgeting. Please consider running to empower others, support AAJA’s mission, and prepare yourself to advance onto other leadership roles, both at AAJA and in your profession. 

For more information on what it means to hold a chapter leadership position, view the webinar below.

Suggested timeline for 2025:

    • Monday, October 13: deadline to enter a race and submit candidate statement
    • Wednesday, October 15: announce candidates
    • Monday, October 20: voting opens
    • Saturday, November 1: deadline to close chapter elections
    • Wednesday, November 5th: deadline to report results to AAJA-HQ and the Vice President of Communications. Detailed instructions will be sent to your chapter emails.
    • November and December: webinar run by the National Office on how to prepare chapter financial statements for FY 2025

Timely submission of results is crucial. In November and December 2025, we will host a webinar for both incoming and outgoing chapter leaders on preparing chapter financial statements for Fiscal Year 2025. If you have any questions, please reach out to vpcomms@aaja.org and support@aaja.org. Thank you for your cooperation!

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