Welcome back to Gainesville, Gators! Did you miss the soupy weather? The dependable afternoon monsoons? The herds of lanyard-wearing, starry-eyed freshmen around every corner? Of course you did!
One thing you didn’t miss is the deadline to apply to one of the open columnist positions for the Alligator’s Opinions Pages this semester.
The Alligator publishes five times a week — Monday through Friday — during the Fall and Spring semesters. This means we need students of every age, major, year and political ideology to write weekly 500- to 600-word columns.
Applicants should be able to produce articulate, thought-provoking analyses and commentary on current events. Anything is fair game: domestic and foreign politics, pop culture, finance, sex and relationships, issues facing minority communities and campus politics.
We’re looking for strong writers familiar with basic elements of style and who have a passion for deadlines. A sharp sense of humor helps.
We will be filling five to six positions for the Fall semester, depending on how many applications we receive.
If you’re interested in becoming a weekly columnist, you should submit a resume, a brief cover letter explaining why you’d be a good fit for our Opinions Pages and a short explanation of your political persuasion — conservative, liberal, libertarian, socialist, etc. Please keep in mind that “Republican” and “Democrat” are parties, not ideologies.
If you have been previously published or keep a blog, please send three examples of your work. If you have not been published before, you may send two 500- to 600-word writing samples demonstrating what your work for the Alligator would be like.
Above all, a columnist’s job is to take a stand using facts and reputable sources to defend his or her opinions. Columnists should frame their opinions in an articulate, succinct manner and should strive to present original topics and material. At the Alligator, we value integrity, professionalism and honesty at all times.
If you apply and are not selected as a weekly columnist, we still strongly encourage you to submit guest columns and letters to the editor. We accept these submissions throughout the semester and value input from our readers on campus happenings, local, state and national politics and anything else that appears on the Opinions Pages.
The more familiar we are with your work, the better your chances of being selected for a columnist position in the future.
Guest columns should be between 450 and 600 words. They should include the author’s name, year, major and the school he or she attends. All statistics, external references, facts and figures should be sourced and cited.
Letters to the editor should be between 150 and 200 words and should include the author’s name and any other relevant information — major, organizations he or she belongs to, etc.
Columnist applications should be sent as attachments to opinions@alligator.org by Friday at 5 p.m.
A version of this editorial ran on page 6 on 8/21/2013 under the headline "Wanted: Columnists for Fall 2013"
