Media Internships: Clips Art

Choosing clippings to submit to publications can be a bit more tricky than it looks. As a college student, your portfolio probably consists of stories that may be mundane to an outside reader, so distinguishing yourself in a field of aggressive young journalists can be harder than being hilarious while actually presenting the facts. But Intern Memo's mastered that, so we'll try to help you at least make the right choices for when it comes time to show your stuff.

The first thing you must account for is obviously the paper or magazine where you're applying. If it's a newspaper, a couple straight-up news articles about campus politics might be better than some joke-riddled op-ed about lite vs. dark beer. Who cares if it worked for Darius Grazen, the dude who's responsible for 35% of the favorite quotes on facebook? Yes, you shouldn't take life too seriously since you'll never get out alive, but it's just a poor choice to send inappropriate articles to serious publications.

Chris Schonberger, former intern at Entertainment Weekly and current editor of Gradspot.com, suggests, "Choose clips that are relevant to the publication you want to write for. If you are applying to scribe PETA newsletters, don't send in a story about hunting buffalo or a review of Outback steakhouse. If the writing duties are not highly specific, choose clips that show your range. Try to have clips from more than one source/publication." Don't worry if these include two publications distributed at your college. This range will prove your versatility and commitment to tackling different types of journalism, just like fictional hero, Darius Grazen.

If you're applying to a magazine conglomerate and are willing to be placed anywhere within the company (which you should be), your sample should be as universal as possible and that means you probably have to submit a straight-up news article. HR at Conde Nast suggests submitting the article you think "best reflects your writing style," but you may have to sacrifice style for substance and just prove that you can do honest reporting. The paradox of the good journalist is that the reader does not notice his presence within the article. Do you have faith that your precocious style will not be misconstrued as vanilla? Hopefully. The world could use a few more journalists like you.

Last thing, try to send PDFs. They look infinitely more professional than a copied and pasted word doc.

We hope thanksgiving was great. We'll be back on Thursday with Media job listings.

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