Enter the Client Connections 2026 Recruitment Contest

Participate for a Chance to Win Free Conference Admission

Who among us doesn’t want more clients that appreciate our skills and pay well?

What about getting a chance to attend the annual ASJA conference for free?

You can help your fellow ASJA members find promising prospects – and help yourself – by participating in the recruitment contest for Client Connections 2026 — A Virtual Event(CC26), April 23-24.

ASJA’s signature client networking event takes place in conjunction with the 2026 ASJA conference, “Freelancers’ Blueprint: Navigating a Shifting Landscape,” April 20-22. The event features keynote speakers, dozens of sessions on journalism, nonfiction books, and content writing, and informal networking. Early bird rates run through Feb. 15. Get more details and register here.

This year, both the conference and Client Connections are virtual and take place on the Airmeet platform that ASJA first used for virtual conferences in 2024. Apart from that, CC26 features all the hallmarks of the in-person version of the event. ASJA professional members enter a lottery held prior to the event for the opportunity to meet one-on-one with hiring editors, content managers, and agents seeking writing talent.

Help Us Find Clients for CC26

The last virtual Client Connections in 2024 attracted more than 60 clients. For CC26 to work, we need your help gathering a similar number of clients interested in getting access to a pool of pre-screen talent. (Read more about how Client Connections works and the impact it can have on your writing business here.)

That’s where you come in. As in years past, the CC26 committee is running a recruiting contest to maximize the number of clients that take part in the event. We’re inviting you to participate by personally inviting the editors, content managers, and agents in your network to come. 

Any ASJA member who takes part in the recruiting contest earns one point for each confirmed client registration. The member with the highest number of points on April 4, the client registration deadline, wins free admittance to the conference. If you’ve already registered for the conference, your payment will be reimbursed. As a bonus incentive, whoever wins the recruiting contest also will automatically get a much-coveted spot in an upcoming Virtual Pitch Slam (VPS) event.

Here’s How to Enter the CC26 Recruiting Contest

All ASJA members can participate in the contest, whether you are a professional, associate, retired, or lifetime member. To enter:

1. Look through your contacts for editors, content marketing directors or agencies, and literary agents or book publishers. Don’t overlook other outlets that assign work to independent nonfiction writers, including trade publications, nonprofit institutions, colleges and universities, and professional associations.
2. Email me, cari@carishane.com, indicating whom you’d like to invite. I will send you the ASJA invitation template and Client Connections logo to forward to your clients.
3. Email the CC26 invitation to your clients.

Each time one of your client contacts registers to attend, you’ll receive a point. To receive points, clients must register by the deadline, April 4. On that date, we’ll tally the numbers and contact the member with the most points within a week.

One of ASJA’s superpowers is the mutual support and network-building that can help all of our businesses succeed and thrive. When members share insights about prospective clients with one another, we all benefit.

**

ASJA board member and Client Connections co-chair Cari Shane is a freelance journalist, ski addict, hot yoga apologist, Airbnb “Superhost” and Manhattan native who lives in Washington, D.C. Her byline appears regularly in a variety of outlets including AARP, National Geographic, Scientific American, Smithsonian, and USA Today. She’s also a volunteer editor for Street Sense Media, a non-profit that elevates the voices of DC residents experiencing homelessness.