LION Publishers to host 2025 Independent News Sustainability Summit in St. Louis

Building on the success of our first two sold-out Independent News Sustainability Summits (in Austin and Chicago, respectively), we’re thrilled to officially announce that we will be hosting our third Summit conference in St. Louis from September 3-5, 2025. 

As LION expands to support more independent news entrepreneurs across the U.S. and Canada, we know our members crave opportunities to connect and learn in person. Knowing that 47 percent of these members are solopreneurs — news founders who started and run their news business independently without full-time employees — makes these opportunities even more valuable. And the overwhelmingly positive feedback from our 2024 Summit attendees has also made it clear that our community wants these annual gatherings to continue. 

For 2025, we’re taking all our learnings from the 2022 and 2024 events and hosting another national Summit that will gather independent news publishers, industry experts, and supporters of independent news to share expert knowledge, hard-won lessons, and actionable advice on running a news business while being in community with people who care deeply about strengthening the local news ecosystem. 

Our schedule will include: 

• Keynotes from industry leaders
• Numerous sessions on financial health, operational resilience, and journalistic impact — LION’s pillars of sustainability
• Facilitated networking opportunities and off-site events 
• The seventh annual LION Awards Ceremony & Dinner

We’ll host this event at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch at 315 Chestnut St. in St. Louis, MO, centered in the heart of the city with views of the iconic Gateway Arch.

We’ll have a hotel block available at the Hyatt, and Summit tickets will be available for purchase in March 2025. We’ll also ask our LION member community to share their ideas for session topics, speakers, and facilitated networking moments.

We look forward to sharing more details about the event soon.

Until then, please reach out to our development director, Shelly Hunter (shellyhunter@lionpublishers.com), if you’re interested in sponsorship and/or partnership opportunities.