JOB POSTING: Blogger/editor post for the Common Language Project

This is a pretty sweet job posting from AAJA Seattle friends the Common Language Project.

Check out the details below!
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Paid Blogger/Editor at the Common Language Project

Who We Are:
The Common Language Project is an award-winning multimedia journalism nonprofit based at the University of Washington. We’re looking to expand our site and sharpen our brand by starting a blog to complement the long form, multimedia journalism that we currently specialize in.

Seattle is a small city with a big worldview and tons of diversity. We want to develop a blog that provides a fun, interesting and unexpected take on travel, international development, Seattle’s global/local connection and our region’s diverse communities. 

We’re thinking travel writing from a Northwest perspective, restaurant reviews, event calendars, photo slideshows of happenings in the international community, international nonprofit news, interviews with globe-trotting Seattleites and any other awesome story you can think of.

Who We’re Looking For:
The ideal candidate is independent, entrepreneurial, funny, creative, globally aware and connected to diverse communities here in the Puget Sound region. You need to be interested in marketing, design, multimedia (especially photography) and web publishing (as well as a little social networking and event planning). But above all we want a curious reporter and a strong writer (comfortable with a quick turnaround) willing to put their energy behind an ambitious startup.

The Position:
$750 per month (negotiable) for 3-5 blog posts a week plus some graphic design, web maintenance and editing guest posts; you will also be responsible for developing the blog’s launch plan and marketing strategy. Recruiting sponsors/ad sales will be expected as well, but will include opportunities for greater compensation on a commission basis. This is a nine-month contract position with the possibility of extension.

If interested, send a cover letter, resume and writing sample to jessica@clpmag.org above by September 30th, 2011 at 5PM. More info: www.clpmag.org/submissions.php .

EARLY CAREER JOB OPENING: 3-year reporting residency at The Seattle Times

Just in time for graduation, a prime job opportunity has come up.

The Seattle Times is now accepting applications for a 3-year reporting residency position:

The Seattle Times has an opening for a three-year reporting resident designed for beginning journalists with some professional experience. The program gives journalists a range of newsroom experiences, plus on-the-job training and development. We’re looking for someone who’s shown an ability to find and break news, write engaging feature and enterprise stories, and shown a passion for watchdog journalism. Strong digital and multimedia skills are a plus.

Residents will receive a development plan and regular feedback, and be assigned a mentor.

Applicants must have graduated by the time the residency begins. Applicants must have had some successful internships at news organizations and/or a year or two professional experience at daily newspapers or other media organizations. Applicants must have a car.

If  you’re interested, please submit a cover letter, resume, the names of three references familiar with your work and 5 – 10 samples of your reporting work  Applicants must have a car. Please post your application materials to the following site:  https://www.smartrecruiters.com/seattletimescompany

The Seattle Times is a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper, recognized as one of the best in the country. At The Seattle Times, your work matters. We are a family-owned-and-operated company, dedicated to the community we serve. We offer a competitive salary and benefits package. The Times is a drug-free workplace and equal opportunity employer.  Learn more about our company at seattletimescompany.com.

This position, which is aimed at those with less than 2 years of experience, has been a career jumping-off point for several  AAJA Seattle members including past AAJA National President Sharon Chan. She is a good source for any questions and  can be reached at schan@seattletimes.com.

Chan recommends applying for the position by May 6.

Job opening: Microsoft beat reporter for The Seattle Times

Former AAJA National president Sharon Chan will be moving on to the new digital frontier as producer of mobile platforms and user analytics for The Seattle Times.(Congrats, Sharon!)

With Sharon’s new career move comes a great opportunity for someone — you, perhaps? —  to cover Microsoft for The Seattle Times.

Here’s the job posting:

The Seattle Times Business staff is seeking a hard-driving, enterprising reporter to cover one of the most influential corporations in the world: Microsoft. This reporter should have considerable experience covering business and/or technology and should take pride at being ahead of not only local competitors, but the national media as well. He or she must be skilled at working with financial documents, understanding technology, building sources and breaking through a PR machine second to none. This person needs to be skilled at anticipating events, putting together stories that connect the dots and explain to our readers why these events are important. Writing abilities must be sharp and wide-ranging enough to appear regularly on A1, the Business section cover and above the fold online. This candidate should also be comfortable using a variety of tools, from capturing Web video to leveraging social media to engage readers and sources. Availability to travel is also a must.

This reporter, part of The Times’ technology team, must be able to work cooperatively with other team members, as well as peers throughout the newsroom, including photo, graphics and online. He or she will be principally responsible for daily and enterprise coverage of Microsoft’s corporate affairs, strategies, core products, personnel and workplace issues, and software industry trends. Other members of the team will contribute to coverage of the company, especially in the areas of digital media, gaming and wireless technologies. Contributions to the larger Business section staff is expected, including story ideas and suggestions for the betterment of business coverage.

If you think you are up to the challenge of covering one of our premier beats, contact Technology Editor Mark Watanabe at mwatanabe@seattletimes.com or at The Seattle Times, P.O. Box, 70, Seattle WA 98111.

AAJA Seattle VP featured in Seattleite

[photo by Erik Simkins]

All of us here at AAJA Seattle know how awesome Caroline Li, AAJA Seattle’s vice president of events, is, but it looks like the secret is out.

Seattleite, a lifestyle website looking to highlight the area’s offerings, profiled Caroline for its “The Ultimate Catch: Intriguing Seattleites” series:

Caroline is a local journalist with global ambitions. She is the founder of Earthwalkers Magazine & Social Network, a media platform that promotes local city bloggers and travel writers from around the world, while connecting like-minded individuals so that they can share and inspire each other to experience the world for themselves.

It’s great to see others acknowledge Caroline’s great work with Earthwalkers as well as her work for nonprofits such as AAJA Seattle. Recently, she was the lead organizer for our successful Lunar New Year Banquet and Silent Auction. (Highlights on the event are coming!)

Congrats, Caroline!

The Holiday Scoop is a big success!

[Organizers and emcees kick it at The Holiday Scoop, an all-Seattle media party to raise money for the Northwest Journalists of Color Scholarship on Dec. 17, 2010 at Nectar: Sharon Chan, Seattle Times technology reporter; David Boardman, Seattle Times executive editor; Candace Heckman, senior editor at Nyhus Communications; Bill Radke, KIRO FM Radio host and Lori Matsukawa, KING 5 anchor. Photo by Erika Schultz]

By Sharon Pian Chan and Candace Heckman
AAJA National President and National Treasurer

Journalists packed the house at The Holiday Scoop, the first all-Seattle media party for broadcast, radio and online journalists on Friday, Dec. 17.

More than 200 people broke out their holiday finest for the party at Nectar, a nightclub in Seattle’s Fremont neighborhood, representing current and former journalists from more than 40 news outlets in the Puget Sound.

[Seattle Times executive editor David Boardman skewers Seattle media in a poem at The Holiday Scoop, which he help organize. Photo by Erika Schultz]

The highlight of the night? Seattle Times executive editor David Boardman’s version of “Twas the Night before Christmas” skewering local media, LOLcats and newsmakers. If you missed it, it will live on only in our memories.

[Emcees Bill Radke and Lori Matsukawa deliver a poem about Seattle "snowmageddon." Photo by Erika Schultz]

Emcees Lori Matsukawa of KING5 and Bill Radke of KIRO FM Radio opened the event, exchanging some very special holiday gifts with each other (also for our memories). They also recognized newsrooms that won national awards this year: The Seattle Times (Pulitzer Prize), Puget Sound Business Journal (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Seattle Post-Intelligencer (Knight-Risser Prize), KIRO FM Radio (RTDNA), KOMO TV (RTDNA), MSNBC.com (ONA) and West Seattle Blog (ONA).

The event benefited AAJA Seattle’s Northwest Journalists of Color Scholarship, a 24-year program that has awarded more than 100 scholarships to student journalists. NJC scholarship winners Rachel Solomon and Peter Sessum volunteered at the event. Other former winners also showed up: Seattle Times religion reporter Janet Tu and Seattle Magazine online managing editor Karen
Johnson.

[Seattle Times reporter Dominic Gates (center) and Sports Press NW soccer reporter Stanley Holmes were among the 200 journalists who attended at The Holiday Scoop, an all-Seattle media party to raise money for the Northwest Journalists of Color Scholarship. Photo by Erika Schultz.]

Here are all the newsrooms represented: 710 ESPN Seattle, AOL FanHouse, AOLNews, Associated Press, CBS Interactive, Crosscut, Intersect, InvestigateWest, KBCS 91.3 FM Radio, KING TV, KIRO Radio, KIRO TV, KUOW/NPR, Maple Leaf Life, MSN Money, MSNBC.com, My Green Lake, Neighborlogs, Northwest Vietnamese News, Puget Sound Business Journal, Q13 FOX, Ravenna Blog, Renton Reporter, Patch.com, Reuters, Roosevelt Neighborhood Blog, Seattle Bride, Seattle Business, Seattle magazine, Seattle PostGlobe, Seattle Weekly, Seattlepi.com, Sportspress Northwest, The Associated Press, The Daily (Everett) Herald, The (UW) Daily, The Seattle Times, The (Tacoma) News Tribune, Three Sheets Northwest, USA Today online, Xconomy, Northwest Asian Weekly.

The masterminds behind the event were David Boardman, AAJA National Treasurer Candace Heckman and AAJA National President Sharon Chan. See you next year? Maybe.

If you have feedback for the event, send it to candaceheckman@gmail.com or schan@seattletimes.com.