Welcome back, Gators! Breaking news: It is about to be COLD in Gainesville. Like, seriously. Pull those hats and mittens out of retirement, and for those of you who rely on scooters as your main method of transportation — we are so sorry.
About a week ago, we all said goodbye to 2013 and all its drama: the government shutdown, Twerkgate and the National Security A leaks. Here’s to hoping 2014 brings jetpacks, hoverboards and governmental efficiency. Hey, we can dream.
We also said goodbye to a few of our regular columnists and cartoonists, which means the Alligator wants you, reader, to fill those spots. Alligator Opinions currently needs two or three new columnists and cartoonists, so those of you who are artistic and opinionated should consider applying.
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, political ideology and walk of life to write weekly 500- to 600-word columns and contribute pithy and humorous cartoons each week.
Above all, a columnist’s job is to take a stand using facts and sources to defend his or her opinions. Columnists should frame their arguments in an articulate, structured and succinct manner and should strive to present original topics and material.
Writers and cartoonists interested in contributing weekly content should submit a cover letter, resume and two or three 500-word writing or cartoon samples to opinions@alligator.org by 5 p.m. Thursday. The samples should be representative of what your column or cartoon would look like. Anything is fair game: politics, pop culture, science, health and fitness, LGBT topics, technology and more. Columnist applicants should provide a brief description of their political ideology in their cover letters. Please note that “Democrat” and “Republican” are political parties, not ideologies. Vulgarity and hate speech will not be considered.
If you’ve been previously published or run a blog, please include links. Columnist applicants do not have to be journalism or English majors; however, strong written communication skills and the ability to meet deadlines are required.
Columnists would submit one column per week of about 580 - 650 words, and cartoonists would submit one or two cartoons per week. Contributing to Alligator Opinions represents a great opportunity to build a professional portfolio of published clips.
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 op-ed pages.
Guest columns should be about 450 words, and they should include the author’s name, year, major and the school he or she attends. All statistics, references, facts and figures should be sourced and cited. Letters to the editor should be about 200 words and should include the author’s name and any relevant information — major, organizations he or she belongs to, etc.
A version of this editorial ran on page 6 on 1/6/2014 under the headline "‘Greetings, Spring: Apply to be an Alligator columnist"
