Yipe! Internships deadline in two weeks

A lot of internships for summer 2008 deadline at the end of this month. For journalism minors, the place to start is of course the Journalism Studies program, which has a page on internships. But for all prospective journalists, internships are crucial. It's one of the first things editors look for when hiring. You learn a lot very fast. Your clips get better. You get to try on a job environment and see what you do and don't like without committing – a rare thing in itself! Here's some starting points:

Dow Jones internships
Prestigious program. Paul McGrath '78 of the Houston Chronicle says: "Time is of the essence. ... Everything has to be postmarked by Oct. 31. Interested students can Google Dow Jones internship and find the necessary info and application forms. They have to take a test, do a 500-word essay and fill out an application form. Once they qualify, they can be 'drafted' by any of the hundreds of participating newspapers. It's a 10-week paid internship." Plus a possible $1,000 scholarship for the next year.

For an editing internship you must make a request by Oct. 26 that someone administer the test to you. Professor Walraven has monitored the test in the past, and Paul has too – in fact he may be available part of next week (Oct. 20-27) to do so at A&M. Holler at him fast if you need him: superag1 (at) yahoo.com.

Texas newspapers
These are the largest papers — aim high, I say — but many, many others have internships. Try calling the local news outlets (TV, radio, Web) in whatever town you'll be spending the summer. (But call now.)
Houston Chronicle intern: Deadline Dec. 1. Marketing, sports, online, graphics, news copy desk, city desk etc. Copy editing interns must take the Dow Jones test; see above.
Dallas Morning News intern: Postmarked Nov. 1. Paid. News, biz, sports, photo, editing, Web, graphics, etc. Selwyn Crawford, who has visited the Batt staff in the past, is in charge of the program.
San Antonio Express-News intern: Deadline Nov. 15. Paid. Reporting, editing, photo. For more, click here, search for Texas, click on SA Express-News.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram intern: Deadline Dec. 14. Paid. News reporting, sports, features, photos, copy-editing, design.
Austin American-Statesman intern: Deadline Nov. 2. Paid, plus free housing. News, biz, sports, features, Web, reporting or editing, photo, graphics, design, op-ed.

(The Texarkana Gazette and Victoria Advocate also have internship listings at that ASNE link, which I got courtesy of cubreporters.org, and the Bryan College-Station Eagle is also a great place to start.)

Some excellent advice
Joe Grimm of the Detroit Free Press has a handy calendar that offers a smart year-round guide to landing an internship. (Sample tip: In April, call papers back to see if something opened up.)
Here, he answers "How do I get a copy-editing internship?" and scores of other internship questions, including what to say in an essay, the interview, big or small paper, etc.
To land on your feet when you start the job, search for some information about starting a new beat.
Also, ask your Aggie buddies: Many former students listed here will be happy to offer advice.

More job banks
Cubreporters.org has a whole raft of solid links to national internship listings — more than a dozen, including ASNE's bank and chains/organizations such as the AP (deadline Nov. 15) and Freedom Communications (deadline Nov. 1), which owns five Texas papers. One I thought looked fun was Ed2010, which lists magazine internships including Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Seventeen, Good Housekeeping and Rachael Ray's magazine. I wonder if Rachael wears Prada?
Journalismjobs.com, oddly, only has a few internships listed, even nationwide, but they're not bad: reporting for Reuters in Chicago, L.A., New York; PBS NewsHour; sports copy editing at the Orlando Sentinel.

Questions? Want specific help? Feel free to write me! More advice, tips, links, personal tales of woe or triumph are also extremely welcome.