Statesman Journal hiring two outdoors journalism interns for summer 2022

The Statesman Journal is hiring two outdoors journalism interns this summer that pay $15 per hour and allow for exploring and writing about Oregon’s wildest places.

The internships require working 40 hours per week for 10 weeks, for periods roughly between June to mid-August, or July to late September.

The interns will work with Statesman Journal outdoors reporter Zach Urness to craft stories, podcasts and videos that center on issues such as wildfires, outdoor recreation and the environment. In addition, the intern will get the chance to travel to unique outdoor destinations and write about what makes them special for the SJ’s travel/outdoors section.

Applications are being accepted through April and the first week of May. Apply here and email zurness@statesmanjournal.com with questions.

“We’re looking for candidates with some journalism experience and strong writing and reporting chops, but who also love the outdoors and telling important stories,” Urness said. “But hard work and hustle are the most important attributes.”    

The first year of the internships was 2021. Interns Wesley LaPointe, a student at the University of Oregon, and Eddy Binford-Ross, a South Salem High graduate and future Georgetown University student, produced work that spanned an array of topics.

Binford-Ross traveled to an abandoned fire lookout, wrote about efforts to restore a disappearing trail in the Mount Jefferson Wilderness and took a deep dive into the growing threat of urban wildfires faced in the Willamette Valley.

Lapointe traveled to a bog of carnivorous plants on the Oregon Coast, wrote about a man who sells rainwater from every date in the last 20 years and produced a video about efforts to rebuild the Little North Santiam Canyon following the Labor Day Fires.

The internships are funded by sponsors of the Explore Oregon Podcast.