Thirteen college students and recent college graduates are headed to paid copy editing internships on daily newspapers after completing 10 days of intensive preparation at The University of Texas at Austin.
The interns are among a select group of undergraduate and graduate students placed in internships in copy editing, sports copy editing, business reporting and digital journalism.
The highly competitive national program is funded by the Dow Jones News Fund, and participating newspapers and digital media services. More than 700 students applied for the program. Applicants were required to take a test and complete an extensive application before being considered.
The School of Journalism at UT Austin, one of five pre-internship training sites for print and online copy editors and designers, has been part of the News Fund program since 1998.
Newspaper professionals, visiting faculty and UT journalism faculty moderated the sessions in this 18th residency program at UT Austin.
In the latter half of the pre-internship training, participants produced three issues of a live model newspaper, the Southwest Journalist, as well as a companion online product, swjournalist.com.
The UT-News Fund interns serve internships of 10 to 14 weeks.
Participants in the UT Austin workshop, including their universities and host news organizations, are as follows:
• Daniella Abinum, Florida State University, The Sacramento Bee
• Erin Davoran, Ohio University, Journal Media Group in Corpus Christi, Texas
• Gregory Dewar, University of Oregon, Grand Forks Herald
• Emily Dreher, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, The Denver Post
• Audrey Fletcher, Kent State University, The Beaumont Enterprise
• Alexandra Graff, Washington State University, Gatehouse Media Center for News & Design in Austin
• Paighten Harkins, University of Oklahoma, Austin American-Statesman
• Jordan Huesers, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Journal Media Group in Corpus Christi, Texas
• Nicholas Ibarra, San Jose State University, Bay Area News Group
• Julian Lim, San Francisco State University, Gatehouse Media Center for News & Design in Austin
• Maggie McVey, SUNY Plattsburgh, Journal Media Group in Corpus Christi, Texas
• Nicholas Niedzwiadek, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Houston Chronicle
• Rebekah Tomlin, University of Texas at Arlington, The Los Angeles Times
Grants from the News Fund and contributions from participating newspapers cover the participants’ pre-internship training, including housing, meals, transportation and instruction.
Participating newspapers also pay interns a weekly wage for their internship work. Students returning to their universities after the internships are eligible for a $1,000 scholarship provided by the News Fund.
Directing the UT workshop were Beth Butler and Bradley Wilson, co-directors; George Sylvie, assistant director; and Lourdes Jones, senior administrative associate of the UT School of Journalism.
Faculty included Griff Singer, retired senior lecturer from The University of Texas at Austin; Mark Grabowski, assistant professor at Adelphi University; and Heather Taylor, manager of digital media and programs at the News Fund, Princeton, New Jersey.
Managing Editor John Bridges and Sports Editor Jason Jarrett of the Austin American-Statesman coordinated the interns’ visit to that newspaper.
Other newspaper training centers were at Temple University, the University of Missouri, Pennsylvania State University and the University of Nebraska. A digital journalism workshop was held at Arizona State, and a business reporting workshop was conducted at New York University.
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