10 interns complete 2020 training

Ten college students and recent college graduates are headed to editing internships after completing eight days of intensive preparation at the University of Texas at Austin — virtually.

The interns are among a group of undergraduate and graduate students placed in internships in copy editing, business reporting and digital journalism. The program is operated by the Dow Jones News Fund and, for the first time this year, the Texas Press Association.

The Associated Press allowed students to use the wire services for content and instructional material and School Newspapers Online hosted the Southwest Journalist website.

Newspaper professionals, visiting faculty and UT journalism faculty moderated the sessions in this 23rd residency program at UT-Austin.

In the latter half of the pre-internship training, participants produced three issues of a model daily newspaper, the Southwest Journalist, as well as a companion online product, swjournalist.com.

The UT-News Fund interns serve internships of 10 to 12 weeks. Grants from the News Fund and contributions from participating news organizations cover the participants’ training. This year, for the first time, the training was held virtually, using more than eight hours of classroom instruction and production per day via Zoom and Google Hangouts. The DJNF internships themselves will also be virtual.

Beth Butler and Bradley Wilson served as co-directors of the workshop with assistance from Kathleen McElroy, director of the UT School of Journalism, and Alexis Chavez, administrative associate.

Faculty also included Mark Grabowski, associate professor at Adelphi University and Griff Singer, retired senior lecturer at the University of Texas School of Journalism and former director of the Center for Editing Excellence.

Yesterday the @DJNF editing interns and I started work on our website and our print edition. Here we have Saturday’s @SWJournalist front page (designed by me)! Stay tuned for tonight’s edition. #djnftex20 pic.twitter.com/lMP29XeHZg

— Jordan Erb (@jordanparkererb) June 1, 2020

The 2020 participants, their schools and their internship assignments are as follows:

• Christine Bartruff, University of South Carolina, Stars and Stripes
• Lyndsey Brennan, Kent State University, Richmond Times-Dispatch
• Nolan Brey, University of Kansas, Los Angeles Times
• Gabriella DeBenedictis, University of Connecticut, Houston Chronicle
• Jordan Erb, Northeastern University, GateHouse/Austin American-Statesman
• Caleb Fortenberry, Ashford University, Tyler County Booster and Polk County Enterprise
• M.K. Lovell, Texas Tech University, Hereford Brand
• Julia Maenius, University of Texas – San Antonio, Fredericksburg Standard
• Sam Nelson, University of Missouri, The Chicago Reporter
• Megan Wehring, Texas State University, Hays Free Press (Kyle, Texas)

.Guest speakers included:

• Kathleen McElroy, director, UT School of Journalism and G.B. Dealey Regents Professor in Journalism
• Nicole Bronzan, senior communications officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation VIDEO
• Corrie MacLaggan, managing editor, Texas Tribune
• Mike Hodges, Texas Press Association executive director
• Cyndy Slovak-Barton, publisher, Barton Publications VIDEO
• Ken Cooke, publisher, Fredericksburg Standard-Radio Post VIDEO
• Paul Weber, Austin-based reporter, Associated Press
• Rick Brooks, deputy editor of newsroom standards at The Wall Street Journal
• Erin Ailworth, Midwest correspondent with The Wall Street Journal VIDEO
• Kimberly Seals Allers, president, SHIFT Strategic Communications VIDEO
• Dan Cunningham, retired senior editor, Houston Chronicle

PDF versions of the Southwest Journalism:

• May 31, 2020
• June 1, 2020
• June 2, 2020