By Seth Boyes,
Seth Boyes, News Editor
I might be jumping the gun on National Newspaper Week this year, but an announcement from the state’s newspaper association got me thinking about the future of papers like ours.
In short, the Iowa Newspaper Association is offering a total of eight scholarships for students planning to start a career in newspapers — be they high school or college students.
Now, in case you aren’t aware dear reader, journalism isn’t an easy job — in fact, I’m sometimes surprised that I’ve lasted this long myself. It demands an awful lot from those who take up the cause of the fourth estate, and it doesn’t often give back in equal measure. Couple that with a steady flow of criticism, and even the most calloused news writers will bleed from time to time.
So, in some respects, it’s not that surprising how shallow the hiring pool of potential journalists has become in recent years. And as such, I feel newspapers both big and small have a responsibility to help foster the budding wordsmiths of tomorrow.
Each of the INA’s scholarships are worth a few thousand dollars — admittedly not much, but again, this career isn’t heavy on monetary or social rewards. That said, those dollars can be a real handhold for those looking to get some ink on their fingertips. If that’s you, let me point you toward the online application at inanews.com/learn/scholarships.
But that can’t be the end of it — there has to be a human component.
Trust me. I certainly wouldn’t be where I am today as a journalist if it hadn’t been for the editors and publishers who guided me through the basics of journalism my first year and stuck with me as I navigated tough professional calls of my own years later. So yes, having a financial leg up will surely be an advantage to many, but it will be tutelage in the newsroom that takes them where they’re really hoping to go — and, just to let you in on a secret, that proverbial finish line is perpetually on the horizon no matter how good you get at this job.
In short, financial support has to be coupled with professional support to truly be of use. So, with that in mind, I’ll simply extend an open invitation to area students who may want to see journalism up close — be that a short job shadow experience, a discussion with a school newspaper staff or just a brief chat with a school counselor.
Our information is at the top of the front page if you’d like to reach out (who are we kidding? Chances are you’re looking at this on your phone, so our contact information is at the bottom of the homepage). We welcome curious minds. In fact, one of my former editors often said curiosity is the one trait an aspiring journalist must have — we can teach you to write better, we can teach you to use a camera, but we can’t really teach you to be curious.
And, if there are to be stories and photos for tomorrow’s readers, people in my position need to at least be willing to cultivate that curiosity among tomorrow’s writers when the opportunity presents itself. Like I’ve said before, it’s a poor paper that doesn’t listen to its community, and I’d add that it’s a poor paper that does nothing to ensure a free press endures.
So, again, if you feel the hum of the press might be calling you, go ahead and apply for some help from the INA, and then let us here at the Decorah Leader know if we can help.
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Your writing is so enjoyable to read and you should have some good candidates to mentor at Luther College!