Columnist Application

The Michigan Daily, Winter 2018

Deadline: Thursday, December 28th at 11:59pm

This application is also available as a pdf file.

Do you have a voice that needs to be shared? Do you find yourself theorizing about why events in the news happen the way they do? If you consistently find national, state, local and University current events interesting and are itching to share your opinion about said current events, then being a Michigan Daily columnist might be the job for you. Apply here to write an approximately 750 to 1,000 word column once every two weeks and start contributing your perspective to our campus conversation.

What makes a good columnist?

We are looking for a wide array of voices from a variety of schools and colleges, backgrounds, home states and home countries. We are looking for people who are passionate experts. This could look like a lot of things: Maybe you are actively involved in a student group and want to write about an initiative your group is working on. Maybe you have spent the semester doing research in a lab on campus and want to write about insights found through participating in this research. Maybe you are passionate about certain political events and want to articulate nuances that you think students need to consider. Maybe you want to write about personal experiences, observations or discoveries.

What are the duties of a Michigan Daily Columnist?

The Michigan Daily prints each day undergraduates have class, usually Monday through Friday. Your column will fill a portion of these pages once every two weeks and be published online. Each piece of writing will be due three days in advance of the day it will be published.

  1. Attend columnist training. This will tentatively be held the first Friday after school starts (1/5).
  2. Submit a 750 to 1,000 word column once every two weeks. The first draft you turn in for each column should be readable, with minimal grammatical and syntactical errors. The Senior Opinion Editors are there to help you clean up your writing and clean up your ideas, not to do a complete overhaul. To make the editing process smoother for all involved, many writers find it helpful to begin fleshing out ideas ahead of time, instead of scrambling to put together an argument and find supporting evidence the night before your column is due.
  3. Attend all scheduled reads for your column (to submit your column, you will schedule an in ­person read with one of our editors in our newsroom at 420 Maynard St. in addition to submitting it online via Google Docs. At each ‘read,’ you will work together with an editor to edit your column until it is finalized. For your first column you will be required to attend an in-person read. From then on you will have a choice between online or in person edits.)
  4. Attend a monthly check-in meeting with all columnists and cartoonists in our newsroom.
  5. Columnists are encouraged but not required to come to our twice weekly Editorial Board meetings to become more integrated into our team. Meetings are held Monday and Wednesday evenings in the newsroom from 7:15 p.m. to 8:45 p.m.
  6. Come to any of the fun n’ social events you can that will happen throughout the semester!

Please note: Upon accepting the job of a columnist you will review all Daily bylaws and sign a contract agreeing to their terms.

Good columns will include...

  1. An appropriate topic. While columnists are allowed to pick their own topics, columns usually deal with issues pertinent to the University of Michigan, college students in general, the Ann Arbor community or the state of Michigan. Topics that reach as far as national or world issues are not discouraged from being addressed, but it is crucial the writer always keeps in mind that this is a newspaper for students. It’s okay to start from news stories (remember to check not just the Daily, but annarbor.com, MLive.com, Michigan Radio, The Detroit News, the Detroit Free Press or national outlets as well) but always ask yourself: Why does a University of Michigan student care? While we allow for some flexibility, it’s important that each columnist stay within the purview of the topic area they’ve chosen to write about. The idea is that you finish the semester with a cohesive series of pieces that demonstrate growth over time.
  2. A unique argument. You must tell the reader something they’ve never heard before. This is especially true if you pick a topic that’s extensively covered. Be fresh, new and interesting. To generate more creative and engaging stories we’ve had columnists investigate specific topics (conducting interviews, taking photos, etc.) to gain an in depth report that also incorporates their own opinions. Consider this rule of thumb: Tell readers a) why this matters to you, and b) why this should matter to them.
  3. Authority to address the issue. You should be a reasonably credible source on your topic, whether you’re taking a class on it, it is something you’ve had previous experience with or it’s simply a newfound interest you are eager to research and learn a ton about.
  4. Strong writing. Good grammar, word choice, spelling and sentence structure are of course important, but it’s also critical for columns to follow a coherent organization. Sentences should neatly flow from one to another and paragraphs should transition logically. Check your facts, provide statistics and cite examples or personal experiences. All columnists are expected to proofread their columns before submitting.

If you can work the above elements into an engaging piece of opinion writing and fulfill the above duties, please consider the following two-part application.

The application is due Thursday, December 28th at 11:59pm and should be emailed to the 2018 Editorial Page Editors: Anu Roy-Chaudhury (anuroy@umich.edu) and Ashley Zhang (ashleyzh@umich.edu).

Application Winter 2018

Part 1: Short answer questions.

  1. Tell us about your background, your major, any organizations you are a part of, the work you do for these organizations and why you love doing that work. Please note if you have written for any other publications and provide the names of those publications.
  2. At The Michigan Daily, we are committed to increasing the diversity (broadly defined) of students working for our publication. Please describe how your interests and background (in terms of culture, race, gender, ethnicity, work and life experiences) would contribute to that diversity and why diversity is important for the Opinion section.
  3. What is your column’s theme and guiding message? Include why you’d like to write about this topic and why it should be you who is writing on this topic. Note: If you plan on writing about politics, make sure to note what specific aspect of politics you’d like your column to focus on. This year we are trying to streamline our column themes in an effort to expand the content of our page. A few topics we want to hire columnists to write about are the following:
    • Environment
    • Science/Technology
    • Business
    • International politics/events
    • LGBTQ experience
    • Conservative viewpoint
    • Moderate viewpoint
    • Senior experience
    • Freshman experience
    • Gender/women's issues
    • National politics
    • State/local politics
    • Pop culture
    • Immigrant/first-generation American/college student experiences

    Of course, these are just examples of column themes. Feel free to choose to write about one of these topics, or create your own!

  4. What publications do you read to stay up to date on current issues relevant to your subject area. Why do you read these publications? Why do you trust them? What makes them credible?
  5. How will you make use of all the resources at your disposal to inform your argument? In other words, what types of people will you be interviewing? How will you make (or do you already) these types of contacts? What other secondary sources will you use?
  6. How do you plan on writing an interesting and engaging column during a slow news week?

Part 2: A sample column.

Please provide us with a brand new, never published column that pertains to your proposed topic area. This sample column should follow all of the previously outlined guidelines for columns. Sample columns will be used as the writer’s first column unless discussed with the Editorial Page Editors.

*Please note: Upon accepting the job as a Michigan Daily Columnist, you will be required to review, and will become bound by all Michigan Daily bylaws. The bylaws enforce the Michigan Daily’s ethical standards (i.e. preventing the publishing of libelous, malicious or discriminatory content). All columns are subject to review before publication on those standards by the Editorial Page Editors, the Managing Editor and/or the Editor in Chief. If content does not align with the standards of the bylaws, per that review, the Daily reserves the right to not publish that content. That being said, the writer’s voice is the top priority on the Opinion section and we will always work with the writer to have content published rather than not.

Thank you for applying to be a columnist for The Michigan Daily.
We look forward to hearing all you have to say!