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Summer 2018 Editorial - Books and Arts Criticism Internships in New York

The Wall Street Journal's Book Reviews and Arts in Review departments are seeking beginning journalists - juniors, seniors or recent graduates with reporting and writing backgrounds at their school newspapers or elsewhere - for 10-week paid summer internships in our New York City office. 

Our internships - formally, the Bartley Fellowships - are in honor and memory of our section's former Editor, Robert L. (Bob) Bartley. Opportunities will be awarded to young thinkers and writers who intend to pursue a career in journalism or cultural criticism. 

Several fellows will be selected each year through an application process that will be judged by senior editors. Bartley Fellows will be assigned to a department within the Opinion section - Arts in Review; Book Reviews; Editorials; or Features (Op-Eds and Columns). The fellow(s) selected to work with the Books and Arts teams will assist in commissioning reviews, researching, fact-checking and editing content for the print and digital editions of the Journal, contributing to social media and digital production, and will be encouraged to submit their own ideas for works to review. They may also submit ideas for articles or projects to editors in any part of the Opinion section. 

Internships are paid, and generally take place over June, July and August, though start dates can be flexible in certain circumstances. 

If you are interested in applying for both the Books/Arts and Opinion Bartley fellowships, please submit an application to both positions. 

Guidelines and Application Deadline

Applicants should have experience writing, and preferably editing, in an arts or criticism context for their college newspaper or literary magazine, or a comparable publication. Students from any discipline may apply, but preference will be granted to students concentrating in Literature, History, a Foreign Language, Classics, Pre-Law, Music, Theater, Art History, Architecture, Philosophy, Political Science or Archaeology - via coursework (though not necessarily a major) or sustained leisure-time activity. An appreciation for both Western and non-Western canon is desirable, as is an understanding of current issues in the arts. A demonstrated ability to multitask and meet daily deadlines is critical for success. Applicants should be familiar with technology as it relates to journalism. Social media experience with a publication or brand would be a plus. 

If you’d like to be considered, please submit the following in one single, complete PDF file:

  • A cover letter
  • Your resume
  • Links to or cited full text of your best clips
  • Your response to one of the following prompts in no more than 600 words
  •  

  1. Make a case for any book of your choosing on history - fiction or nonfiction.
  2. What value does the criticism of books, arts or culture provide in the broader context of journalism?
  3. Write a “Masterpiece” column. (Examples: https://www.wsj.com/news/types/masterpiece)
  4.  

All materials must be received by January 31, 2018 and a decision will be made by the end of February. Only applicants who are selected for final consideration will be interviewed. 

About Arts in Review & Book Reviews at The Wall Street Journal
Criticism of books and the arts are recognized at the Journal as an editorial function, and as such operate under the umbrella of the the Opinion section. Like the rest of the Opinion section, in our Arts and Book reviews we believe in rendering clear, independent judgments that are as well-argued as they are deeply informed.

In its Arts reviews, the Journal covers the full spectrum, from high art to TV, movies, theater and the many forms of popular music. Our approach is strictly art-for-art’s-sake: We review things because they are intrinsically interesting, not to fulfill a quota. We believe in the past and its traditions, but are keenly interested in the new—not in novelty for its own sake but in the ways those traditions are being extended and new ones invented. And we prize above all a lively, lucid prose style free from jargon of all kinds.

The Journal’s Book reviews are among the most timely, most widely read and most influential in American literary journalism. Our daily reviews are part of the Opinion section, and focus on nonfiction books of interest to ambitious readers of politics, business, science, religion and the issues of the day. Our weekend reviews, which make up a stand-alone six-page Books section in print, offer judicious criticism of the best of the week’s new titles in a broad cross-section of subject areas, from the fine arts and literary fiction to popular culture, narrative nonfiction, children’s books and more. In all we do, our goal is simple: to cut through the noise of hype and publicity to identify true excellence in publishing--and then match it with excellence in reviewing.