Every year, High Country News offers four to six internship positions, each six months long, starting in July and January. We also offer a fellowship, between six months and one year, starting each January. We provide free housing and a $220-per-week stipend for interns and free housing and a $375-per-week stipend for fellows. To help defray moving costs, an additional $500 travel stipend is available upon successful completion of the internship.
Our interns and fellows are a key part of the HCN team; aside from a few minor tasks such as sorting the mail and answering phones, interns spend most of their time researching, interviewing, writing, and developing stories and content, for print and the website. We pride ourselves on fairness, accuracy and good writing, and we expect no less of our interns.
For all of our positions, a bachelor’s degree or equivalent and some prior journalism experience and/or education is preferred. We also prefer applicants who are familiar with High Country News and who have lived in the West and know its environmental and community issues. Photographic experience and familiarity with audio and visual programs such as Final Cut Pro and Flash, as well as radio or video experience are all pluses. We strongly encourage Native American journalists, Hispanic journalists and those from other under-represented backgrounds to apply. Our fellowship is designed for journalists with experience that may preclude them from an internship and who may have something extra, in terms of experience, to bring to High Country News.
All interns and fellows work with the staff editors to write news stories for the website and for the newsmagazine, ranging in length from 250 to 1,600 words. Depending on their experience and ability, they may also write a 2,500- to 5,000-word feature story. Our editing process is rigorous; copy goes through two layers of editing, and it is not unusual for a story to see six or eight drafts. Reporting is generally conducted over the phone and the Internet, but we also send interns and fellows into the field to do on-the-ground work.
Our interns and fellows go on to become leaders in journalism and public life. They pursue careers as reporters, editors, educators, lawyers, policymakers and freelance writers. Above all, they learn to report with depth and nuance on the issues of critical importance to the American West and the national conversation.
For more information or to apply: https://www.hcn.org/about/internships