The Gryphon is set to host the Student Publication Association National Conference and Awards, the biggest student media conference in the country.

On May 6th and 7th, over a hundred students from university publications up and down the country will be heading to Leeds University Union for a weekend of talks, workshops and networking.

Confirmed speakers include James Ball (Special Correspondent for Buzzfeed), Laurence Dodds (Assistant Comment Editor at The Telegraph) and Emily Shackleton (Senior Social Producer at metro.co.uk).

More speakers and freebies are being announced everyday on the lead up to the event.

This is the fifth anniversary of the conference ran by SPA, an organisation which aims to connect and support student publications around the UK.

On the Saturday night the recently renovated Riley Smith Hall will host the prestigious SPA Awards, where publications and journalists will be awarded for their hard work over the past year.

This year The Gryphon is up for four awards; Best Publication, Best Interview, Best Entertainment Piece and Best Reporter.

Each award category will be judged by an industry professional, including journalists from the likes of the Times, the Telegraph, the Press Association and the i Paper.

All students attending the conference will receive a free goodie bag, as well as a three-year license for Camayak software worth over £13,000, which includes a subscription to Getty images.

Tickets are priced at £55 for the weekend, and this includes access to the conference, awards ceremony and after party, lunch both days and a three-course meal with wine on the Saturday night.

For more information head to the SPA website: http://spajournalism.com/spanc17/

Or check out the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/918153211621716/