Fayetteville Observer sports reporter

The Fayetteville Observer, an APSE award-winning 65K circulation newspaper in North Carolina, is looking for a sports reporter to cover two beats: high schools and Fayetteville State University, an NCAA Division II program. We currently have one high school sports reporter and need another to cover 10 high schools in the county and about 40 in the 10-county region. The other half of the beat is Fayetteville State, an HBCU that competes in the CIAA.

We're looking for someone with versatility and a strong work ethic. We are ramping up our high school sports coverage on the web and need someone who's comfortable writing blogs and appearing in videos. We need someone who can transition easily from covering games to writing features and Sunday enterprise pieces. General assignments are also part of the job. We cover three local minor league teams, three other region colleges, ACC football and basketball (we're an hour from Raleigh) and major golf events in the Pinehurst area (also an hour away).

Requirements: A college degree and some daily newspaper experience is preferred. We are an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity in the workplace.

Qualified candidates should send a resume, cover letter and references to:

Dennis Hall
Assistant Managing Editor/Sports & New Media
The Fayetteville Observer
P.O. Box 849
Fayetteville, NC 28306

You may also apply via e-mail to:
halld@fayobserver.com.

 

I applied once for a job in Fayetteville. FINE paper. The town, well, Fort Bragg is there.

rb

 

I've never worked here, but did start in the business at a local paper in Fayetteville's coverage area. I had various dealings with most of the writers on staff here with all of them being very good people.

There's definitely a chance to cover a wide range of stuff in this area from the local preps and colleges and with the big in-state schools closeby in addition to the golf at Pinehurst.

It's tough to beat the location here if you want to be not too far from various stuff: Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill about an hour away with both Charlotte and the beach within two hours. Oh yea, and about an hour north of the infamous tourist trap, South of the Border.

Overall, this is a pretty good stop for someone looking to make a step up to a mid-sized paper.

 

Brian Tolley runs the Observer. He's the former AME/SE at The State.

 

And a good, good guy. IMHO.

 

Did someone leave? I hope it wasn't Graff, he was a good guy when I met him long ago.

 

Graff is still on board. He was moved over to news. A really good guy and great features reporter.

 

Yeah, it was the features that got him to Fayetteville in the first place from Rocky Mount.

 

I second the praise on Mr. Graff. He's the titties. Never heard much negative about the staff at the Observer. Looks like a great opportunity.

 

hee hee hee... ryan sonner used "titties"

 

I had the chance to visit there this summer for a news desker position, but also met with the sports staff as they thought I might eventually move over there. They were all great people and in some ways I regretted not taking the job because of how great the staff was. Can't really comment on the town, although they took me out apartment hunting and their were some nice places. But the staff is probably worth moving there.

 

This would be a great stop for anyone. Or it could be a destination itself. They've got some excellent veteran writers on that staff. And they produce an outstanding section. Graff is as good of a features writer as I've seen.