A videography intern in 2010 films cadets while they train for water operations.

The U.S. Army has an excellent opportunity for journalism and photojournalism students this summer. There are a number of openings for internships in their Leader’s Training Course Public Affairs Office.

The internship is at Fort Knox, Ky., from May 26 to Aug. 3. It is only open to students who will be sophomores, juniors or seniors during the 2011-12 school year. There are openings for writers, photographers, layout and design and videographers. Deadline for application is April 1.

The Public Affairs Office produces a weekly 12-page tabloid newspaper and daily website, a multimedia show and news releases in support of the course that focuses on cadets seeking enrollment in the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, more commonly known as ROTC.

Interns receive approximately $270 a week (tax-free) and given free housing in a local hotel. Of course, they’ll also receive a wealth of experience. Internships are for about 11 weeks. Further details are available upon request. To learn more about these internships visit http://www.leaderstrainingcourse.com/internships and click on the internships link.

Journalists should have experience in news and feature writing, be able to write headlines and photo captions and have a working knowledge of the Associated Press Stylebook and copyediting. Photojournalists should be proficient in digital photography, know how to write photo captions and be able to juggle multiple assignments. All applicants must have a driver’s license.

To apply, students should send their packets to Forrest Berkshire at forrest.berkshire@usacc.army.mil, or to the Public Affairs Officer at steve.arel@usacc.army.mil. Packets can also be sent by mail to:

Department of the Army
United States Army Cadet Command
328 Third Ave.
Fort Knox, KY 40121-5610

Packets should include a cover letter, resume and examples of work (about six stories for reporting candidates; roughly a dozen photos for photography candidates; four layouts and two writing samples for copy editor candidates). Their cover letters or resumes should clearly state the position for which they are applying.

If students have any questions, they may contact Forrest Berkshire by phone at (502) 624-8149.

Click here for PDF versions of the official announcement or for the guidelines for writers and photographers.

Apply or spread the word about the Sierra Club's Greatest Internship on Earth!

If you love the outdoors and travel, have a sense of adventure, are creative, and think you would be a great spokesperson, you need to know about this new internship from the Sierra Club.

This summer, one lucky student or recent grad will get The Best Internship on Earth – hiking, rafting and exploring all across the country with the Sierra Club’s youth programs.

Working with Sierra Club’s Inner City Outings, Building Bridges to the Outdoors, and Volunteer Vacations Programs, this lucky intern will make a video blog of their experiences and help raise awareness across the country of the critical work the Sierra Club does introducing youth to the outdoors.

The intern will get a $2,000 gift certificate from The North Face to outfit them with all the gear they need for their summer of adventure. The Sierra Club will also cover all travel expenses and pay a stipend.

Apply today at www. sierraclub.org/BestInternship. Entries are due March 16th.

See glorious sights, meet amazing people, have new adventures, and get paid to do it!

The Working Press is a daily tabloid newspaper and online news site that covers the Excellence in Journalism conference.

Selected interns will need to arrive in New Orleans on Saturday, September 24 and attend a mandatory 2 p.m. staff meeting. The internship ends Wednesday, September 28, at Noon. Read more about The Working Press internship online for complete details and application information. Contact Heather Dunn with questions.

Read more about the keynote here.

In addition to the speech, the convention will feature many sessions on career building and skills training for student journalists. SPJ national student representative Tara Puckey will present the session ”50 sites in 50 minutes,” and local New York chapter members will give resume and clip critiques.

Convention director and SPJ South Florida chapter president Michael Koretzky is offering for SPJ members to attend the Helen Thomas session at no cost. And SPJ student members can attend the entire convention at a discounted price. If interested, contact Koretzky at michael@koretzky.com or 954-292-7515.

Students from the campus community work together to assemble and distribute care packages of toiletries, non-perishable food items and other essentials to needy citizens throughout Cincinnati.

This year, in addition to creating care packages, we will also assemble peanut butter and jelly sandwiches donate them to local food pantries.

We need volunteers to assemble the care packages and sandwiches on Wednesday, February 9th from 3pm until 6pm at Hillel, 2615 Clifton Ave.

Volunteers are also needed to help distribute the packages on Thursday, February 10th from 12pm until 5pm, meet at Hillel.

If you have any questions please contact heather@hillelcincinnati.org or 221-6728.

In February, the Ohio University SPJ and RTDNA chapters will hold their first “Sunshine Summit” to bring together student journalists and professionals from Ohio and beyond to discuss press freedom issues confronting student journalists.

At the conference, the two student groups will work to draft a policy to propose to the Ohio Board of Regents and the University System of Ohio, which will aim to standardize open meeting and open record policies in Ohio. The conference will include a series of panels, guest speakers and breakout sessions that will educate journalists throughout Ohio about current laws, university policies and how to protect their rights as student journalists.

The summit is Feb. 26, 2011, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Walter Hall Rotunda on the campus of Ohio University. For more information, e-mail Taylor Mirfendereski.

Contrary to many references in recent days, SPJ has not engaged in any initiative to end the use of the term “illegal immigrant.” One of SPJ’s volunteer Diversity Committee members, Leo Laurence, wrote a blog post and an article expressing his personal opinion and reporting discussion within the committee on this topic. However, the committee did not reach any consensus, nor has national SPJ.

The views expressed by Laurence in Quill magazine, SPJ’s Diversity Committee blog “Who’s News,” and on subsequent television programs are his personal opinion and do not reflect the views of SPJ nor its Diversity Committee.

SPJ President Hagit Limor went on Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor” Tuesday to clarify any misperceptions regarding the Society’s position on the controversy. Watch the segment with Limor and Laurence by following this link.

Improve your social media skills for better business reporting

Whether you’re a newbie or a veteran at social networking, pick up new skills from BusinessJournalism.org M.E. Robin J. Phillips in free Webinars Feb. 8-10 from the Donald W. Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism.

• The first hour – Social Media 101 on Feb. 8 — targets those new to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
• Social Media 202 on Feb. 9 will help you use social media to cover your beat.
• In the third hour — Social Media 303 on Feb. 10 — you’ll explore how to contain the clutter with all the info coming at you from social networks.

The interactive Webinars are held at noon or 4 p.m. EST each day. Register today for one or more, and be on your way to social media savvy.

Mine the Census data for great local business stories

USA Today database editor Paul Overberg and Arizona State University Knight Chair Steve Doig will help you find enterprising local business stories in newly released Census and other government data.

Sign up today for this free daylong workshop in either Philadelphia Jan. 31 or in Dallas April 7. The Dallas session precedes the annual Society of American Business Editors and Writers Conference April 7-9.

Each daylong session will cover how to access and analyze local business data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s just released American Community Survey, plus the Economic Census and County Business Patterns data, as well as how to track foreign trade, gross domestic product and household income to the local level. Here’s more on the unique local business stories you can develop from Census data.

Tune into our Business Journalism Week coverage and grab coverage tips remotely

From Jan. 4-7, a select group of business journalists and professors will study financials in-depth at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication during Reynolds Business Journalism Week.

You don’t have to travel to Phoenix to learn from our expert presenters at the Strictly Financials and Business Journalism Professor seminars. We’ll have coverage on BusinessJournalism.org, including tip sheets, lecture videos and live-streaming of this year’s discussion with two-time Pulitzer winner Jim Steele and the winners of the 2010 Barlett & Steele Awards for Investigative Business Journalism. We’ll also live-stream the keynote speech by Diana Henriques, The New York Times reporter writing a Madoff book, on business journalists as investigators.

Bookmark this page to follow our coverage.

Improve your skills with these free Webinars in just one hour a day:

• Social Media 101, 202 and 303: Feb. 8-10
• 15 Red Flags When Editing Business Stories: March 29
• Covering the Green Economy – Follow the Green Money: April 19
• 15 Tips on Time Management for Business Journalists: May 3
• Beyond Google: Mining the Web for Company Intelligence: May 17-18
• Unlocking Financial Statements: July 18-22

Don’t miss these free workshops:

• Mining the Census for Local Business Stories: Philadelphia, Jan. 31, and Dallas, April 7.
• Investigating Private Companies and Nonprofits: Raleigh, Feb. 23 (before CAR Conference) and Orlando, June 8 (before IRE Conference)
• Covering the Green Economy – A Western Perspective: Los Angeles, March 4

View the entire training calendar, and sign up at BusinessJournalism.org. Attend three training events and earn a Circle of Achievement certificate.

Dear Members,

We encourage you to enter your best work from 2010 in the Sigma Delta Chi Awards and share the contest information with journalists who you believe should be recognized. Award winners will be honored at the Excellence in Journalism: 2011 conference in New Orleans and featured in the nationally distributed Quill magazine.

Here is what one of this year’s award winners had to say:

“This is the biggest journalism honor I’ve received, and it’s particularly special because it’s in the category of public service. One of the reasons I love this profession is because we have the opportunity to affect change in our communities, and that’s exactly what these stories did.”
- Diette Courrégé, education reporter, The Post and Courier
(Public Service Journalism/ Circulation 50,001-100,000)

The deadline to enter is Feb. 9, 2011. SPJ members may enter for $60. The non-member fee is $100. Visit the SPJ Awards Site for more contest information and to enter online.The awards are open to all journalists, so please feel free to share this information with your colleagues. If you have any questions, contact Awards Coordinator Lauren Rochester at (317) 927-8000 ext. 210.

The Nov/Dec issue of Quill is out and ready for your enjoyment. Print copies are on the way (if they haven’t arrived already). But don’t forget to read online, too. There are two ways to enjoy online:

- Digital Quill, the fully functional e-magazine. Read it here.

- On the Web at the Quill site.

In this issue:

- The University of Colorado-Boulder shot across the figurative bow with the late-August announcement of a potential “discontinuance” of its journalism school. In light of that, is it a new day or dark day in journalism education?
Read the story.

- Hyperlocal news sites like Patch.com are popping up all over the country – and boosting journalism employment. Is it sustainable or a fleeting trend? Read the story.

- Sure, adjunct and other teaching gigs seem attractive. But do you really have the technical and digital skills to enter the classroom? Read the story.

- A remembrance of past SPJ President Phil Record, a 55-year member whose presidency helped steer SPJ out of financial difficulty. Read the story.

- 10 questions with Tracy Record, co-founder and editor of West Seattle Blog. Read the interview.

And don’t forget the regular slate of Toolbox columns on topics from ethics to diversity to digital media, all aimed at giving you tips on becoming a better journalist.