Internships

Mercury interns are unpaid, but very appreciated. Check out the following internship opportunities:

News Internship - The Mercury news department hosts four interns each year (June–August, September–November, December–February, and March–May). Our intern functions as a junior member of the news team, looking into tips, tracking down documents, doing background research for reporters, and—depending on experience—occasionally writing for the section (all writing is paid on freelance scale). When there's downtime in the newsroom, our intern pitches in around editorial, helping arts editors with everyday duties or special projects. You'll do everything but make coffee.

We're looking for someone with some reporting and writing experience, who can hit the ground running and needs minimal supervision or handholding to find the answers we need. The more entrepreneurial you are, the more likely you are to write for us and build your portfolio of clips. We ask for a 15 to 20 hour per week commitment, with a flexible schedule within our 9 am-5:30 pm office hours (in other words, we know you have to pay the rent somehow, so we understand if you have another job, too—as long as you can be here a few days a week during the day).

If you're interested, send an email to News Editor Amy J. Ruiz (amy@portlandmercury.com), with the subject line "news internship application," explaining what makes you perfect for the job. Include a resume and a few clips, if you've got them, and let us know if there's a specific internship you're after (summer, fall, etc.). We'll hold all applications until the next opening, and contact candidates we'd like to interview four weeks before an internship begins.

Arts Internship - The Mercury's arts departments—music, film, food, books, visual art, theater—hosts interns on an as-needed basis. Regular duties range from entering calendar data into our system to sorting media and helping with fact checking mundane, yet vital, information like addresses and phone numbers, as well as helping to research special projects. HOWEVER! Currently we are staffed up—when we are in need of an intern we will post a notice above in the "Jobs" section with application instructions. In the meantime, you can make yourself known to us in a freelance capacity. For more information on freelance opportunities, contact Managing Editor Marjorie Skinner (marjorie@portlandmercury.com).

Production Internship - The Mercury's production department occasionally hires interns. Keep an eye on the job listings for postings.

Submissions

Writing - The Mercury rarely publishes unsolicited articles, although you are free to send them with the knowledge that, if published, they would almost certainly need to be revised to suit the format of our paper.

We are also open to queries for brilliant, original feature articles that will be of deep fascination to our readers. If you would like to submit a query, please send a description of your topic, a brief outline of the ways you hope to approach it, a suggested length for the piece, and an explanation of why the story would be a smash hit with our readers. We receive many unsolicited submissions, so don't be offended if we don't immediately respond! Send your queries to Managing Editor Marjorie Skinner (marjorie@portlandmercury.com).

Art - The Mercury hires freelance photographers, illustrators, and comic artists all the time, so feel free to send work samples for consideration. Same for cover submissions. No promises, and if you don't hear back from anyone it simply means we are very busy (feel free to keep trying, but try not to be annoying about it). Please no phone calls. Email website addresses or low-res samples to Art Director Mark Searcy (art@portlandmercury.com).