The Marion Record in Marion, Kansas, is seeking a features reporter.
We just eclipsed our own record of 25 statewide awards last year by winning 44 this year, including 20 for first place. We won for overall news and writing excellence, design and layout excellence, best front page and best sports pages. More important, five different reporters, including one just a few months on the job, won individual awards of first place for investigative reporting, series writing, education reporting, youth coverage and feature writing. That’s not to mention the second-place awards our reporters received for coverage of the environment, religion, senior citizens, sports news, sports features, spot news and, yet again, investigative reporting. Or the first-place awards we received for editorial writing and column writing.
Yes, our location may be a bit out of the way, on the west edge of the Flint Hills in central Kansas. But spending a year here will give your career a much better chance of taking center stage that you might find in many years at more urban publications, where you might be lucky to ever get a Page 1 assignment. And we aren’t really that far out of the way. An hour north of Wichita, we’re nestled between two resort lakes in a low-cost rural county seat that considers itself a thriving community for the arts, with nationally ranked schools, top-notch public facilities and a wealth of historic buildings.
We’re seeking an energetic, self-starting storyteller who can develop human-focused features that touch readers' lives. You'll typically spend three or more days a week developing features, maybe a day on meetings or sports, and an afternoon helping edit or design pages, for which we will provide training just as good as what you might get at a top journalism school.
We honestly don’t care whether you can shoot video or live-tweet stories. What we’re looking for is someone who can develop enterprising story ideas by being active in the community and following social media. Skills with still photography, editing and InDesign — or willingness to learn — are pluses, as are interests in one or more of our regular special-focus topics: agriculture, arts and entertainment, education, health, lifestyle, outdoors, religion, senior living, tourism and youth.
Our starting salary of up to $27,500 is augmented by fully paid individual health insurance, paid vacation after one year and a year-end profit-sharing bonus. A minimum one-year commitment is required. Out-of-state residents may qualify for a matching-funds program that provides up to $15,000 in student loan forgiveness and waiver of state income taxes for up to five years.
Send your resume and three to five samples of your work to publisher Eric Meyer at eric@marionrecord.com.