The deadline for 2012 applications is January 23. The 2012 writing fellow will be selected by April 1 and the start date will ideally be in June.

The Program

The American Prospect's Writing Fellows Program offers journalists at the beginning of their career the opportunity to spend two full years at the magazine in Washington, D.C., actively developing their journalistic skills. Each fellow will write a minimum of three to four full-length feature articles. Fellows will also regularly write shorter, online pieces and blog daily for the Web site. We are seeking candidates who are opinionated and comfortable generating article ideas rather than relying on assignments. A passion for blogging is appreciated.

Fellows are expected and encouraged to write for other publications, build relationships with outside editors and reporters, and establish a rapport with contacts at think tanks and in academia. The goal is to ensure that, once the fellowship is completed, fellows will have developed the relationships, track record, and credibility (and clips!) to further pursue careers as respected journalists. Past Prospect writing fellows have gone on to work and write for The New York Times, The New Republic, The Nation, The Atlantic, Slate, Salon, Mother Jones, Newsweek, The Boston Globe, and many other publications—including the Prospect.

Fellows are required to make a one-year commitment. After that year, the Prospect and the fellow will evaluate and determine whether to renew for a second year. The fellowship pays $33,000 the first year and includes health, dental, and vision benefits.

The Magazine

The American Prospect was founded in 1990 as an authoritative magazine of liberal ideas committed to a just society, enriched democracy, and effective progressive politics. Our 20-person team, augmented by many freelance contributors and friends, produces 10 printed magazines per year and a regularly updated Web site. Through these media, we spread the new ideas and critical analyses necessary to support an informed public discourse.

The Application

Applicants are asked to submit the following:

• A short critique of:
  1) one of the following three pieces: "It's an Ad World After All," by Monica Potts; "All the President's Frenemies," by Adam Serwer; and "Did the Founding Fathers Screw Up?" by Harold Meyerson.
  2) one additional Prospect piece of your choosing.
  This portion of your critique should engage with the argument of the pieces.
• A short critique of our election blog, Vox Pop. This critique should address style, clarity, readability, voice/place in the political dialogue, as well as more substantive questions of content. What works? What doesn't?
• Two written recommendations.
• Three to four writing samples. These can include newspaper and magazine clips, academic papers, blog posts, and unpublished pieces—anything that demonstrates your writing style and reporting at their best.
• Three story ideas for The American Prospect.
• Your resume.
• Your college and (if applicable) graduate school transcripts.

All applications should be sent to:

Emily Parsons
Writing Fellows Program
The American Prospect
1710 Rhode Island Ave. NW, 12th Fl.
Washington, DC 20036

Please contact Emily Parsons with any questions at eparsons@prospect.org.

We are committed to a diverse workplace and to supporting our people with ongoing career-development opportunities. People of color and women are strongly encouraged to apply.

FAQs About the Writing Fellowship

Is the deadline for the postmark date or do you have to have received it by then?

The application deadline refers to postmarked, not received. Please have your applications postmarked by the due date; don't worry if we don't receive them exactly on the due date. However, if you are sending in your application at the last minute, we strongly encourage that you use Priority Mail.

Can I fax my application?

Please do not fax your application. Faxed applications are hard to read and easy to lose. However, you may have your recommendations faxed or e-mailed if necessary. However, we do prefer written, signed, and sealed recommendations whenever possible.

Do I have to send the recommendations along with my application?

It is okay for recommendations to arrive separately from the rest of your applications. However, all recommendations—and all other parts of your application—must be sent in on time, which means postmarked or faxed in by the due date.

What's the most important part of the application?

The critiques are the most important part of your application. It is the way that we, the editors, evaluate your analytical ability, intellectual sophistication, and individual interests. The critiques are not a summary of the articles or a commentary on layout and design. What we want to know is how effective you think the articles are, substantively, and why.

How long should the critiques be?

The length of the critiques can vary. But they are not meant to be a graduate thesis—keep the three critiques under five pages total.

What if I can't find an edition of the print magazine?

Feel free to use the online edition. All content from the print magazine is available on our Web site.

How important are my grades?

Do not sweat your transcript. We ask for it more to see what kinds of courses you've taken—what you intellectual interests are—than to check your grades. But please do send us one. If you are applying from graduate school, we would like to see both your undergraduate and graduate transcripts.

How important are the article ideas?

The article ideas are important. They are not an afterthought. They are an important way for us to gauge what your journalistic interests are and what you might be interested in writing about during your fellowship. The ideas can be anywhere from a paragraph or two to a page each in length.

What sort of writing sample are you looking for?

The term "writing samples" should be taken broadly. We want writing that demonstrates that you are capable of writing for a prominent national political magazine. This can include anything from outstanding class papers to newspaper and magazine clips to research reports written for think tanks or advocacy groups. However, do not send published or unpublished letters to the editor that you have written to other magazines or newspapers. We don't consider these to be writing samples.

What if I don't have a lot of journalism experience?

We do not demand that every applicant have a great deal of journalism experience. Years of summer internships at newspapers and magazines are not required, although they are certainly not a negative. We are looking for intellectual, politics- and policy-oriented candidates with strong writing and analytical abilities.