SABEW to hold 2013 conference in Washington, DC

The board of governors of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers voted to hold its 2013 conference in Washington, DC.

The conference will be held on the George Washington University campus. The current conference is being held in Indianapolis, Ind., on the Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis campus.

SABEW, which has an estimated 3,400 members, will begin celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2013. A three-day seminar organized by R.K.T. (Kit) Larson, former associate editor of the Virginian-Pilot and Ledger-Star in Norfolk, Va., was held in 1963, and a permanent organization took shape in 1964 when the Society of American Business Writers held its first meeting in New York City.

“We’re excited about Washington as a venue in a year that will see us start celebrating 50 year as an organization, and that will see either a new term for President Obama or a new president take office,” said Kevin Noblet, the current SABEW president and a managing editor at Dow Jones Newswires. “How reporters cover economic and business issues will be of great importance no matter which scenario we find.”

In recent years, the organization has been holding its meetings on college campuses. The 2011 annual conference was held at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Its fall conferences have been held at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in New York.

“We will be at George Washington University right in the heart of the District,” said Warren Watson, the SABEW executive director. “It’ll be an appropriate place for our 50th anniversary conference. Excitement among our members is already building.”