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Position Title: Spring 2023 Internships

Organization: Mongabay

Organization Overview: Mongabay is a nonprofit conservation and environmental science news platform that publishes original content in English, Indonesian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Hindi and French. Currently aiming to raise awareness about social and environmental issues related to forests and other ecosystems through our environmental news reporting and analysis as well as environmental education materials.

Position Overview: The internship program primarily involves writing environmental news stories for our affiliated news site – Mongabay.com. The interns will have the opportunity to develop their writing skills and have their news stories be published on the renowned website which boasts over two million global readers every month.

Duties: The interns will be writing roughly six news stories on a variety of conservation and environment topics over a course of a six-month commitment. Topics will be assigned to the interns by one of the editors. The Mongabay interns will work closely with Mongabay journalists and receive writing guidelines and feedback on their news stories before publication, receive a deeper understanding of journalistic programs and processes at Mongabay and receive one-on-one training and mentorship from the editors who work with them.

Qualifications:

• Excellent communication skills
• Self-motivator
• Passionate about environmental subjects
• Positive attitude
• Coachable and open to learning
• Strong values – personally and professionally
• Problem-solving skills

Internship Outcomes:

• Publishing experience in a high-profile news outlet
• Learning about journalistic programs and processes at Mongabay
• Becoming part of a community of passionate and talented writers
• Coaching and support:
  
  • Meet and greet training session via Skype and Q&A with Mongabay staff
  • Working with different editors and receiving guidance and feedback
• Developing writing skills
• Developing interviewing skills
• Resume building
• Mongabay letters of reference and personal recommendations

Program Schedule: The interns will be working virtually (at home or wherever they feel most productive) with set deadlines to be met. They are flexible on how many hours per week the intern is able to work but an average of 10 hours per week is required for the full six months. Some weeks could require 15 hours or so while others may be considerably less; the interns have to be flexible and plan accordingly.

Salary/Pay: This is a partially paid internship. Interns will be paid for the final four of the six articles completed during the internship. For these four articles, interns are paid at a per word rate to agree with their editor. The first two articles are part of the initial training period in which interns will work closely with an editor to learn about Mongabay’s style and expectations. These two articles are usually unpaid.

Application Deadline: November 18 (11:30 a.m. EST). Applications sent by email and/or after the deadline will not be accepted.

How to Apply: Applications must be submitted in English via the application form. Applicants are required to submit the following documents (strongly recommended that you have these items prepared before beginning the application process):

1. Resume
2. Cover letter
3. Application form questions (the application form contains questions about motivation, recommended that you read them and prepare your answers before beginning the application process).
4. Submit a writing sample (journalistic or blog article). 600 words max.
• Or you can choose one from the following three scientific articles to complete your writing sample:
Beyond the numbers: Human attitudes and conflict with lions (Panthera leo) in and around Gambella National Park, Ethiopia
Changes in the West African forest-savanna mosaic, insights from central Togo
Thismia kelabitiana (Thismiaceae), a new unique Fairy Lantern from Borneo potentially threatened by commercial logging
5. Optional: submit an additional writing sample of your own (600 words max.)